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Non-communicable Diseases

Deadline: 15 November 2022

Short Courses

  • Face-to-face

  • Antwerp

5 ECTS Credits

English

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About the course

Rationale

WHY?

The burden of NCDs is growing globally and at an unprecedented rate in LMICs as a consequence of population aging, unplanned urbanisation, and widespread unhealthy lifestyles. As a result, current health systems are challenged with an ever-increasing number of people with NCDs adding up to already burdened structures due to widespread infections. Additionally, the associated economic burden on households poses major challenges for patients and their families and for societies at large. 

FOR WHOM?

Are you a health professional or researcher involved in NCD prevention and control and are you interested in the epidemiological, clinical and health systems perspectives of NCDs? Then this 3-week course on NCDs is for you! 

WHAT?

You will learn how to assess the burden and the determinants of NCDs, and to develop, implement and evaluate strategies to tackle NCDs contextualized to specific settings. The focus is mainly on highly prevalent NCDs in LMICs, such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, and their common comorbidities, as well as chronic respiratory diseases, cancer, and mental health and concomitant effects of NCDs on psychosocial wellbeing. 

HOW?

You will have exchanges and discussions with experts on global NCDs during lectures and case-studies. You will also have opportunities for interaction with class peers from a variety of settings. You will appraise the current scientific evidence and learn how to translate knowledge into evidence-based prevention and control programmes. We offer perspectives from different disciplines, combining clinical, epidemiological, social and public health approaches. 

The Department of Public Health (DPH) at ITM has a solid record in research on care models for NCDs, including community-based peer support and self-management in low resource health system settings. We will also tap from the expertise of our worldwide network, inviting collaborators as guest lecturers.

Learning objectives

At the end of the course you should be able to:

  1. Appraise the characteristics and epidemiology of NCDs in LMICs including their complex relationship with communicable diseases;
  2. Measure, assess and compare the burden of disease of specific NCDs in different settings;
  3. Analyse the determinants of NCDs and their interactions, at multiple levels (biological, environmental, behavioural and social);
  4. Apply models and frameworks to evaluate performance of health systems in NCD prevention and control;
  5. Critically appraise the evidence on NCD prevention and control interventions including emerging issues and operational challenges;
  6. Develop and plan the implementation and assessment of evidence-based strategies to reduce the burden of NCDs, considering the health system’s context, and including national and global actors, beneficiaries, and available resources.
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Tuition fee

€ 730 EEA / 1900 non-EEA

Course Coordinator(s)

  • Marjan Pirard

Course Administrator(s)

  • Nadine Nuyts

Course Leader(s)

  • Grace Ku

Contact

  • NCD@itg.be