Infectious Disease Epidemiology

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Pages: 8

1. Public health and health system
a. Please name four important components and functions of health system. (4 marks)
The four important components and functions of health system include delivery of services, creating resources, health financing, and leadership and governance (Lecture 1). Providing services and responding to the peoples’ needs and expectations with available resources such that the best possible outcomes are achieved, are factors that make a health system effective. Moreover, to minimize health inequalities and to improve the overall health of a population, health financing plays a vital role when the goal is to remove financial barriers to allow universal health coverage. Health financing can ensure that financial burden and catastrophic expenditure does not occur. The affordability of medicine and other medical products are heavily depended upon to ensure universal access to health care. Lastly, good leadership and
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Good leadership and governance guides the health system into the right direction especially when it goes off track (World Health Organisation, 2010).

b. Please illustrate how epidemiology can function in the event of an infectious disease epidemic. Please give three examples. (6 marks)
The incidence and distribution of an infectious disease can be determined with epidemiology (Lecture 1). In the case of an infectious disease epidemic, the frequency and pattern of events or cases is highlighted with epidemiology. The occurrence of an infectious disease can be compared across different populations as the frequency, number of cases and its relationship to the population size, is emphasized. Additionally, the pattern referring to the occurrence of cases by individual characteristics, place, and time such as age, geographical differences, and the day of the week, respectively, can allow preventive measures to be implemented