Some of the best free online epidemiology courses will be curated in this blog post. You will get to find out about the meaning of epidemiology, the benefits of studying the course, and a host of other important information about the course.
John Snow conducted a series of investigations on the cause of certain diseases and their prevention, which led to him being regarded as the “father of epidemiology”. Before the invention of the microscope, he had already conducted some studies on cholera outbreaks to know about its cause and to prevent further occurrence.
The word “epidemiology” originates from three Greek words namely “epi” meaning on or upon, “demos” meaning people, and “logos” meaning the study of. In other words, the word “epidemiology” has its roots in the study of what befalls a population.
Epidemiology is the branch of medical science that investigates all the factors that determine the presence or absence of diseases and disorders. It is also the study of how often diseases occur in different groups of people and why.
Some of the major areas of epidemiological study include disease causation, transmission, outbreak investigation, disease surveillance, environmental epidemiology, forensic epidemiology, occupational epidemiology, screening, biomonitoring, and comparisons of treatment effects such as in clinical trials.
People have always shown interest in the study of epidemiology because, at one time or another, an epidemic may befall a community or a village in an area. Epidemiological research helps us to know how many people have a disease or disorder if those numbers are changing, and how the disorder affects our society and our economy. Taking epidemiology courses will help interested individuals to know all about a disease outbreak.
Just as this article will be focusing on the free online epidemiology courses, there are other related online courses that one can venture into such as free certificate courses in public health. All these online courses are offered by different online platforms like Coursera, Alison, edX, and a host of other free online platforms where interested students can go and learn without paying a dime. Since we know what epidemiology is and what it entails, let’s delve straight into the free online epidemiology courses that are available.
Free Online Epidemiology Courses
This section will focus on the free online epidemiology courses that are available on different online platforms. They are as follows;
- Understanding Epidemiology – Principles and Concepts
- Essentials of Global Health
- Measuring Disease in Epidemiology
- Validity and Bias in Epidemiology
- Introduction to Dental Medicine
- Epidemiology: The Basic Science of Public Health
- Clinical Epidemiology
- The Dynamics of Infectious Disease
- Study Design in Epidemiology
- Epidemics-Origins, Spread, Control and Communication
1. Understanding Epidemiology – Principles and Concepts
This is the first on the list of free online epidemiology courses. This course focuses on introducing epidemiology, disease science, and health outcomes in citizens. The course explores disease types, study design, and outbreak investigations. It focuses on measures of risks, disease frequency, and methods for disease prevention.
2. Essentials of Global Health
This course is made up of different modules that teach some of the basic concepts of global health, and a number of key perspectives for considering global health issues. The course also introduces you to key demographic factors and how they relate to global health. It concludes with several sessions that examine what people get sick, disabled, and die from and to what risk factors and determinants these conditions can be attributed.
3. Measuring Disease in Epidemiology
Made up of 4 modules, this course will teach you the fundamental tools of epidemiology that are essential to conducting such studies, starting with the measures used to describe the frequency of a disease or health-related condition. You will also learn how to quantify the strength of an association and discuss the distinction between association and causation.
In the second half of the course, you will use this knowledge to describe different strategies for prevention, identify strengths and weaknesses of diagnostic tests, and consider when a screening program is appropriate.
4. Validity and Bias in Epidemiology
This course offers an introduction to some of the factors that can lead to bias in epidemiology and provides guidance on how to deal with bias in epidemiological research. In this course, you will learn about the main types of bias and what effect they might have on your study findings.
You will then focus on the concept of confounding and you will explore various methods to identify and control for confounding in different study designs. In the last module of this course, we will discuss the phenomenon of effect modification, which is key to understanding and interpreting study results.
5. Introduction to Dental Medicine
This course will review topics in dental medicine including the scope of the field, what to expect in function, and some of the many ways that dysfunction may present for different patients. This will include discussions of mouth, jaw, and tooth anatomy, pathology, and treatment.
The course will talk about differences between patients and the unique roles that different members of the dental field may play in treatment depending on the patient and condition. This course starts from basic concepts and proceeds to review trends in current research and technology. The course will offer a scientific background, some skills for patient evaluation and interview, and some suggestions for further learning for those interested in or involved in dental education
6. Epidemiology: The Basic Science of Public Health
This course explores public health issues like cardiovascular and infectious diseases both locally and globally through the lens of epidemiology. By applying the concepts learned in this course to current public health problems and issues, students will understand the practice of epidemiology as it relates to real life and make for a better appreciation of public health programs and policies.
7. Clinical Epidemiology
Having 7 modules, this course teaches the principles and practice of clinical epidemiology, drawing on real problems faced by medical professionals and elaborating on existing examples of clinical research. Medical researchers will learn how to translate real clinical problems into tangible research questions for investigation, gaining insight into some of the most important considerations when designing an epidemiological study along the way.
Core concepts will be introduced along four key themes: diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, and etiology. Followers of this course will develop their understanding of the topics addressed through lectures from experts, peer interaction, and review assignments
8. The Dynamics of Infectious Disease
In this course, you will explore the major themes of infectious disease dynamics and look at the dynamics of the flu, and why people are worried about flu pandemics. You will also be looking at the dynamics of childhood diseases such as measles and whooping cough, which were once considered almost eradicated but are now making a comeback. This course will also explore Malaria, and use it as a case study of the evolution of drug resistance.
Everything on vaccination will be talked about too as well as how mobile phones, social media, and crowdsourcing are revolutionizing disease surveillance, giving rise to a new field of digital epidemiology
9. Study Design in Epidemiology
In this course, you will learn about the main epidemiological study designs, including cross-sectional and ecological studies, case-control and cohort studies, as well as the more complex nested case-control and case-cohort designs. The final module is dedicated to randomized controlled trials, which is often considered the optimal study design, especially in clinical research.
You will also develop the skills to identify the strengths and limitations of the various study designs. By the end of this course, you will be able to choose the most suitable study design considering the research question, the available time, and resources
10. Epidemics-Origins, Spread, Control and Communication
In this online course, you will get to learn why epidemics occur by looking at the fundamental scientific principles underlying epidemics/pandemics and the global/public health actions behind their prevention and control in the 21st century.
Explore the science, prevention, and control of epidemics in this program. In addition to lectures by leading scientists in this field, this program will feature panel discussions on Ebola and Zika outbreaks, Anti-vaccination, and more, with world-leading experts in epidemics.
Conclusion
If you are interested in any of these free online epidemiology courses I have talked about, you can venture into any one of them and learn without spending a dime.