Alumni speak

Epidemiology has always been a key aspect in every public health project specially the monitoring & evaluation part. Statistical evaluation is indeed helping the cause. May be in my future assignments when I complete this course I shall be aiming for a stint as an M&E specialist. I have more clarity and proficiency in Epidemiology which I though was lacking in my professional career. I believe that we always work in a team and when a broad topic such as Public Health is involved, I would refrain to comment on my individual or personal contributions. It is well organized program with all professional systems in place.

The course helped me in understanding epidemiology much better. It also improved my analytical skills after completion of the course, I could understand publications more clearly. It also helped in making my presentations more effective and clear. Now I can make the data more consolidated and present with more clarity and with clear cut messages. This helps me to make my higher officials understand the problem in a much easier way.

This program has helped me in framing research question, giving guidance in writing protocol for MBBS undergraduate students and for PhD researchers. I wish to train the students in research in public health and arrive at solutions for recommendation to health authorities.

I have been working with Damien Foundation India Trust since 1996. I had been trained in various courses related to TB and leprosy conducted by WHO and other international institutions. I have been promoted as a Secretary to the trust in 2012. I wanted to complete this course particularly to improve my knowledge in epidemiology. I am responsible for developing strategies, implementation through partners, supervision and monitoring. This course has really strengthened my capacities in the field of public health. Especially understanding about basics in epidemiology, of course helped me strengthening my capacities in designing surveys, conducting research studies, writing papers.

As technical officer I have to handle a large amount of data generated by the field institutions and decide on its relevance in devising the technical program of the department which includes incidence/ prevalence of various diseases, outbreak investigations, devising surveillance programs and likewise. The course has been of great help deliver my duties in a more professional manner and I look forward to utilize the knowledge accrued for “Human health through livestock wealth”. Lately, I have been given the charge of a flagship program launched by GOI which goes by the title of “National Animal Disease Reporting System”. The program is all about generating Animal Disease Data esp. for those disease notified by “Office International des Epizooties” which is a parallel body governing livestock issues as is WHO in health sector. It is an online disease register in Livestock sector and once fully functional would not only contribute to estimate disease burden in livestock but also, through an online outbreak reporting integrated with SMS prevent major outbreaks including diseases of zoonotic nature. To be honest I felt that the study material is of good standard. Online lectures by Dr. Preeti Neghandhi are of very good quality and she has been very responsive to the queries posted on discussion board.

This program helped me express my understanding of epidemiology in interview and is still helping me do my job well as a practicing epidemiologist. PGDEPI is a course which I feel is must for all practising public health professionals. It builds on your concepts and helps you solve the on job scenarios as a job-aid. I was able to apply many concepts of epidemiology to build herd immunity in my district against Polio and was able to implement the program on WHO’s safe childbirth checklist in current job. Skills learnt are statistical analysis, designing a study, data collection, new disease outbreak investigation and report writing have become my bread and butter as I am working in a project which is primarily a quasi-experimental study on quality of intra-partum care in labour room.

As a research coordinator, I was well versed with field activities. My knowledge of research was limited to prioritizing interaction with study respondents and following them up consistently over a period of time (in the cohort study), besides developing the questionnaire, consent forms and other tools for the study. I was not actually aware of the implications of “Loss to follow up” although our study had a follow up rate of 95%. But the course modules have encouraged me to get a broader view of Epidemiology as a subject and its significance in public health. I have been bowled over by a few lectures. Must thank all those involved in creating wonderful study modules. Some parts of statistics were particularly very challenging to me. I had to seek help from colleagues at my office and had to find ways to understand concepts. Must admit, I am still not very confident about a lot of things in statistics. Wish there were more explanations to concepts and more questions to work on that would have encouraged students to think on lines of statisticians and understanding the concepts in a better way.

After doing the course, I have developed analytical skills to manage various health related data which is helpful. For e.g., as Assistant Chief Medical Officer, Health (ACMOH) Barasat Sadar subdivision, I can analyse the data obtained from infant death audit performed in 7 community development blocks under me and plan to reduce Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) accordingly. I have seen that about one fifth of the 432 died infants between April 2012 and March 2013 were of very low birth weight (

The course has enhanced my conceptual and practical aspects in public health. I learned about analyzing any public health problem in rational and logical way. I understood concepts of epidemiology through practical aspects. I have conducted research to enhance the disease surveillance system in Mumbai city through involvement of private medical practitioners.

After pursuing PGDEPI, I feel that I have been able to upgrade my skills in order to undertake public health research and data analysis work.