Childhood mortality (P02667)

? Credit Points : 10 ? SCQF Level : 11 ? Acronym : VET-P-P02667

Course description:
This course aims to promote an appreciation of the risk factors and diseases resulting in high childhood mortality. More than 70 per cent of almost 11 million child deaths every year are attributable to six causes: diarrhoea, malaria, neonatal infection, pneumonia, preterm delivery, or lack of oxygen at birth; under-nutrition is implicated in more than half of all child deaths worldwide. This course aims to address each of these causes in order to provide the student with a good understanding of how these problems could be addressed.

Entry Requirements

? Pre-requisites : Satisfactory completion of the Certificate year of the Emerging and Neglected Infectious Diseases programme.

? Co-requisites : Elective option for year two of this MSc programme. Students are required to take a total of six elective courses during this academic year.

? Special Arrangements for Entry : This course will be taught entirely by distance learning, using the virtual learning environment of WebCT as the delivery platform. Course materials are protected by a secure username and password. These access details are made available to registered users only.

? Costs : Students will be required to have regular access to a networked computer, and will be responsible for providing their own computing equipment and consumables.

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Emerging and Neglected Infectious Diseases, (Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, Schedule S)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : Postgraduate

? Delivery Period : To be arranged/Unknown

? Additional Class Information : This course will be delivered online through WebCT

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

Intended learning outcomes:
At the completion of this course the candidate should have a working knowledge of the underlying factors of childhood mortality and understand:
• the impact of maternal health and education
• the process of natural and artificial acquired immunity in relation to (childhood) diseases and their severity
• the impact of vaccination coverage on “herd immunity” and the age of infection and the associated risks
• nutritional and environmental factors influencing childhood mortality
• global changes in childhood mortality

Assessment Information

Formal summative written assessment will constitute 60% of the student's grade. Online assessment will incorporate a variety of activities will constitute 40% of their overall course grade and is taken to represent a formative assessment of learning throughout the programme.