This activity will give you an opportunity to participate in real-world public health practices using an outbreak case study.

Step 1:  Read Part I - Outbreak Detection in this case study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that describes an outbreak of botulism in Argentina. 

Step 2:  Answer the following questions that are embedded in the case study:

Question 1: As a public health practitioner in Argentina, what are the major concerns raised by these two possible cases of botulism in Buenos Aires? (List at least 2 major concerns.)

Question 2:  How might you go about swiftly determining if there are other cases of botulism associated with the cases in Buenos Aires? (Describe at least 3 actions that you could take to quickly determine if there are any additional cases.)

Question 3:  What key points would you include in a press release? Outline at least 5 key pieces of information that should be shared with the public at this time in the outbreak investigation. Consider the balance between promoting awareness while avoiding unnecessary public panic.

Question 4: Would you initiate any control measures at this time?  What criteria would you consider when implementing control measures so early in an investigation? Mention 3 or more. (e.g., the severity of the disease, the vulnerability of the population at risk, the likelihood of more cases, the potential negative and positive impacts of control measures, the infectiousness, etc.)

Step 3: Review your work by asking yourself the questions listed below and then revise your document accordingly before final submission to ensure you capture the self-evaluation questions:

1. Have I described three or more actions that could be taken to quickly determine if there are any additional cases?
2. Did I include at least five key pieces of information that would be important to share with the public at this time?
3. Have I mentioned three or more criteria that should be considered when implementing control measures early in an investigation?

Utilize these questions as a framework to critically appraise and enhance the quality of your work. After reviewing your assignment for completeness and relevance, submit the polished version to the designated area on the course platform for assessment.

Step 4: Submit your assignment by clicking “add a new discussion topic” below and completing the fields.

OPTIONAL Step 5: Interact (10 minutes)

If you would like to, you can reply to your peers' posts in a respectful and professional manner. Ensure that your post engages your peers' ideas by including a reflection on their comments, sharing ideas of other potential difficulties and parties involved, or asking thought-provoking questions. If a peer comments on your posting, please reply. To post a reply, click “Reply” on a particular discussion, write your feedback and then click on “Post to forum.”

In this activity, you will apply the concept of prevention in terms of stages to a chronic disease control strategy in your country and consider the ways in which epidemiology can inform public health intervention.

Step 1: Review Table 6.1 "Levels of prevention" found on page 104 in this resource: Basic Epidemiology.

Step 2: Choose one non-communicable chronic disease that is either prevalent in your country or community, or one that you would like to learn more about.  

Step 3: Briefly describe several actions your country could take to contribute to primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention of your chosen chronic disease.  

Please address each of the following points in 200 to 300 words:

Primary: Briefly research (using online resources from a government, university, or professional association) and summarize the common risk factors for your chosen disease. Explain one or more actions your country could take to reduce the population’s exposure to one or more of these risk factors. (Note: Specify if you are recommending a strategy that targets the entire population or only high-risk individuals. ‘Population strategy’ and ‘High-risk individual strategy’ are described on pages 105-108 of the activity resource.)

Secondary: Briefly describe at least one common screening test for your chronic disease, and one or more actions your country could take to increase access to or increase public awareness of the benefits of this test.  (Government websites are often a good place to get information about screening programs in your country. For example, information on cancer screening in the U.S.A. can be found here:http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/screening/)

Tertiary: Summarize one or more actions the healthcare system in your country could take to reduce the progression or complications of the disease you chose to focus on. (For example, you could describe the treatment, rehabilitation, or any other approaches that would help people, with the chronic disease, live longer and healthier lives).

Step 4: Submit your assignment for peer review by clicking “add a new discussion topic” below and completing the fields.

Step 5: Review the work of one of your peers by asking yourself the questions listed below and comment on their post stating that their post meets these requirements.

This activity will give you an opportunity to generate new questions for this course, that will be sent to NextGenU’s Director of Evaluation to review for format and quality, and then on to the course creator for content review. If they are good questions, they will be added to the question bank for the course.

Step 1: Choose any three learning resources from the entire course. Create one multiple-choice question for each of the three resources. Please use this table with the following columns to keep your information organized:

OPTIONAL Step 3: Interact (10 minutes)

If you would like to, you can reply to your peers' posts in a respectful and professional manner. Ensure that your post engages your peers' ideas by including a reflection on their comments, sharing ideas of other potential difficulties and parties involved, or asking thought-provoking questions. If a peer comments on your posting, please reply. To post a reply, click “Reply” on a particular discussion, write your feedback and then click on “Post to forum.”