Master Program Overview
NOZGEKA is a Master of Science in Public Health Program with a focus on infectious disease epidemiology (MSPE). We implement the program at both the University of Livingstonia (UNILIA) and Mzuzu University (MZUNI) in Malawi. MSPE is a two-year postgraduate programme comprising of 120 Credits. The delivery of modules will be on a block release of specified duration spread throughout the study period; however, the second year will be mostly for students to do their own research that will lead to an examinable thesis. This program will contribute to training staff already in the field and newly graduated students into experts with international standards in infectious disease epidemiology and modelling. The project is generally aimed at enhancing pandemic preparedness and response in Malawi in line with SDG 3 by establishment of a Master of Science in Public Health program with a focus on infectious disease epidemiology at UNILIA and in collaboration with MZUNI.
After successful completion of the training program, graduates will be qualified to perform high standard epidemiological studies and infectious diseases modelling, as well as effectively leading public health responses in times of epidemics or pandemics and routine endemic diseases control programs in Malawi and beyond. This postgraduate program will mainly focus on:
- Public Health including population health, vaccines and vaccinology, fundamentals of epidemiology and biostatistics, clinical basics of communicable diseases
- Advanced epidemiology including advanced statistical methods for epidemiological studies and designing and evaluation of interventions for infectious diseases
- Mathematical Modelling of infectious diseases including dynamics and transmissions of infectious diseases
- climate change and infectious diseases including spatial epidemiology and geographical information systems, surveillance and outbreak management, tools used in fight
Entry requirements
Eligible candidates should possess a first degree in either of the following; Medicine, Environmental Health, Public Health, Epidemiology, Clinical studies, Nursing, Biomedical and Biological Sciences, Biostatistics, Social Sciences from an accredited institution or any equivalent qualifications approved by the universities involved in the consortium.
Brief application process
Application forms can be accessed on the project website (www.nozgeka.eu ), consortium partners’ websites and or at the University Central Office; University of Livingstonia or the faculty offices at Laws, Kaning’ina and Ekwendeni and at the faculty of Health Sciences, Mzuzu University. Interested candidates should submit their complete applications as follows;
- A completed application form,
- Authenticated copies of academic qualifications,
- Authenticated academic transcripts,
- A curriculum vitae up to 3 pages,
- A motivation letter 700 - 1000 words with font sizes 11.
- Two reference letters (one academic and one professional or two academic references),
- A copy of national IDs for Malawians or passports copies for international applicants
Contacts
Course Modules
In the table below is a list of courses that will be offered in this two years master program in Malawi.
| Name of module | Outcomes |
|---|---|
| Fundamentals of epidemiology | a. Explain basic concepts in Epidemiology, Epidemiology types, the importance of Epidemiology at global and national scale and critically review epidemiological studies |
| b. Discuss global, regional and national epidemiologic challenges for infectious disease control, and relate SDG 3 and other SDGs to epidemiology in the process of health | |
| c. Distinguish the differences between Epidemiology and other public health disciplines such as Surveillance and implementation science | |
| d. Solve basic statistical calculations and describe evidence hierarchy from case reports to systematic reviews in epidemiologic studies. | |
| Data management and programming | a. Develop data collection tools, e.g. an appropriate questionnaire for data collection, collect data, and create open structured data frames |
| b. Program in R to manage and clean data and create appropriate variables for data analysis while abiding by good programming practice | |
| c. Solve complicated programming problems while also utilizing online resources | |
| d. Examine secure methods for data transmission, understand data protection protocols, and use health information systems | |
| Fundamentals of biostatistics | a. Compute data using Tables, Graphs, Measures of Central Tendency, Measures of Spread/Dispersion, Measures of Relative Standing, and Measures of Association. |
| b. assess Probability Distribution Models, and compute probabilities for Probability Distribution Models | |
| c. Decide appropriate analyses to compare population means and proportions. | |
| d. Calculate confidence intervals for population parameters and determine sample size. | |
| Clinical basis of infectious disease and antimicrobial resistance | a. Explain pathogenesis, transmission routes and basic epidemiology for relevant infectious disease |
| b. Recognize main clinical features of relevant infectious disease | |
| c. Illustrate principles of diagnostics of relevant infectious disease | |
| d. Apply basics for clinical management of relevant infectious disease | |
| Research methods and practical conduct of epidemiological studies | a. Assess quality of an epidemiologic study and describe fundamental concepts and methods for conducting public health research and epidemiologic studies |
| b. Calculate sample size for different research questions and design a sampling procedure that is appropriate with minimal biases in section of participants | |
| c. Analyse ethical issues in epidemiologic practice and research and prepare ethical consents and participants information sheets. | |
| d. Prepare data protection protocol for epidemiological studies and other related public health research | |
| Dynamics and transmissions of infectious diseases | a. Appraise modes and routes of transmission of prototypical representative infectious agents |
| b. Calculate measures of transmissibility of infectious agents in populations (attack rates, reproduction numbers), and use figures and tables for understanding and quantifying infection dynamics in populations | |
| c. Calculate measures of effectiveness of (non-)pharmaceutical interventions in populations | |
| d. Utilise simple epidemiological models for simulating the spread of infections in a population | |
| Population health, vaccines and vaccinology | a. Appraise principles of population health and define concepts in the field of population, immunology, and herd immunity and population health dynamics. |
| b. Discuss the stages in the development of vaccines. | |
| c. Evaluate functionality of the vaccines and perform vaccine modelling and calculate and interpret epidemiological measures including direct and indirect vaccine efficacy. | |
| d. Assess a vaccine implementation programme and identify methods of effective community engagement for vaccine communications and promotion. | |
| Public health leadership and teaching methodology | a. Describe theories, models, practices of public health leadership and key leadership skills and approaches to navigate complex and dynamic public health environments in the context of infectious disease. |
| b. Apply effective communication, culturally sensitive decision-making, and strategic planning skills to address and manage infectious disease outbreaks. | |
| c. Evaluate principals of time management, leadership. Management and | |
| d. Design and deliver engaging and effective health educational messages and programs on infectious disease, incorporating principles of adult learning and instructional design. | |
| Advanced statistical methods for epidemiological studies | a. Evaluate data analysis procedures for case-control, clinical trials, cohort studies, cluster studies and correlation studies. |
| b. Assess presence of confounding, effect modification, and propose ways to interpret and report it. | |
| c. Explain and apply simple and multivariable regression techniques | |
| d. Appraise model building techniques such as selection of variables and identifying interactions. | |
| Environmental epidemiology, climate change and infectious diseases | a. Discuss the concepts: environmental health, population health, global warming, climate change, infectious disease emergence and re-emergence. |
| b. Evaluate strategies for detecting and combating emerging and re-emerging infectious disease, including surveillance, prevention, outbreak detection, in the context of climate change | |
| c. Assess the association of various climate change impacts such as global temperature rise, pollution, flooding, droughts and disasters with the transmission and occurrence of infectious disease and behaviour of vectors and pathogens | |
| d. Assess challenges of implementing climate change impacts mitigation initiatives that are aimed to reduce occurrence of epidemics and pandemics | |
| Applied infectious disease epidemiology, outbreaks investigation and surveillance | a. Explain the essentials of outbreak detection, develop an outbreak control plan, conduct an outbreak investigation and distinguish between pros and cons of different options in outbreak control |
| b. Explain the core concepts of infectious disease surveillance as a tool for monitoring trends, detecting outbreaks and evaluating interventions | |
| c. Systematically evaluate a surveillance system following established standards | |
| d. Discuss causality frameworks and propensity score methods in infectious disease epidemiology | |
| Design and evaluation of Interventions for infectious diseases | a. Critique intervention designs and main factors to consider in the development and implementation of health intervention trials, including trial size requirements and ethical principles concerning research on human subjects |
| b. Discuss aspects of trial governance (the role of the sponsor, steering committees, data safety and monitoring boards, requirements for trial registration) | |
| c. Apply study-designs of intervention studies in infection research including, among others, non-randomised intervention studies, randomised trials, community-based trials, propensity score methods, and pragmatic trials | |
| d. Evaluate intervention studies, including how to select and use tools for evaluating study quality and explain the use of systematic review and meta-analysis. | |
| Mathematical modelling of infectious diseases | a. Explain the rationale for and application fields of mathematical models for infectious disease dynamics and use available tools to parametrise and run more complex modelling studies based on network models or agent-based models for infectious disease transmission dynamics |
| b. Construct, parametrise and program compartmental models according to the infectious agent of interest and the underlying research question and use available tools to parametrise and run more complex modelling studies based on network models or agent-based models for infectious disease transmission dynamics | |
| c. Explain the application of (non-)pharmaceutical interventions to models of infectious disease dynamics | |
| d. Appraise and critically understand published modelling studies with respect to their applicability, quality and risks of bias | |
| Digital epidemiology and tools for infectious diseases control | a. Describe digital epidemiology and apply its functions in infectious disease outbreak investigation and surveillance. |
| b. Assess the challenges and utilisation of digital tools including artificial intelligence and machine learning in infectious disease outbreaks in resource constrained setting | |
| c. Outline existing digital tools and automated data bases in public health systems for infectious disease | |
| d. Assess the implementation and reliability of digital tools in field epidemiology and describe the applications of automated databases for generating epidemiologic data. | |
| Spatial epidemiology and geographical information systems | a. Collect and organise spatial data on infection/disease and its determinants using appropriate tools (e.g. Global Positioning Systems, Geographic Information Systems platforms and R statistical software) |
| b. Analyse the spatial patterns of infection/disease using a range of basic stats techniques | |
| c. Examine the relative merits of alternative spatial statistical approaches for exploring/predicting spatial distributions of infection/disease and understand how the output of these analyses can be integrated into a disease control programme | |
| d. Critically read and assess relevant literature in spatial analysis and geographical distribution of infectious disease | |
| Epidemiological laboratory | a. Evaluate a laboratory quality management system, the probability and potential consequences of exposure to a given hazard, and describe the standard operating procedures and safety in laboratory settings |
| b. Explain the suitable methods to identify common bacteria and parasites, e.g., TB, and P. falciparum. | |
| c. Conduct applied laboratory research to address a public health or safety-related issue. | |
| d. Effectively coordinate an outbreak management team for field sample collection and organization | |
| Thesis | a. Assess research topics, perform literature review, formulate research questions, and develop a proposal suitable for a master’s degree leve |
| b. Conduct research independently and author a scientific report following principles of good clinical practice and epidemiological studies guidelines ((Proposal development, data collection, analysis and report writing) | |
| c. Develop writing skills and application skills to effectively use statistical packages e.g., Stata, SPSS, Python and R | |
| d. Compare literature search procedures and use literature managers e.g., Endnote, Citavi and Mendeley |
Career Opportunities
After successful completion of the program, graduates will be qualified;
for research and will be able to perform relevant epidemiological studies as well as infectious disease modelling.
for applied epidemiology and able to effectively lead public health response in times of epidemics or pandemics.
Our graduates will be able to work in research institutions, academia, international agencies such as WHO and African CDC, and in Ministry of Health (MoH) departments in developing countries and beyond. Furthermore, the graduates will be qualified to undertake Doctor of Philosophy and or doctorate studies at HZI (PhD in Epidemiology), University of Münster or other universities globally.
