Content:

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, chronic lung diseases and mental illness are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide and the greatest burden lies in low- and middle-income countries. The risks and impact of NCDs on individuals and populations are driven by a complex mix of factors. These include early-life experiences, nutrition, environment, behaviour, health systems, society and politics.

This module will enable students to engage in discourse on key concepts, methods, debates and policies in global NCDs. Students will gain an understanding of: the epidemiology and economic burden of NCDs; their social determinants and inequality in distribution; an appreciation of the complexities of measuring NCDs in resource-poor settings; the most common risk factors for NCDs; the major physical and mental NCDs and the interrelation between these; the issue of multimorbidity; key concepts in prevention and control strategies; global, national, health system and community approaches to reduce the burden of NCDs; and the developmental origins of health and disease and the potential for early life interventions. Through class room sessions and assessed independent studies, students will develop their own NCD intervention proposals using frameworks of implementation science.

Aims:

To provide students with a good understanding of key concepts, measurement methods, policies, programmes and debates in global NCDs.

To develop students’ skills in intervention design and key concepts of implementation science.

To develop students’ skills in writing funding applications.

Learning outcomes:

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

•Appraise the evidence and data describing the burden of NCDs and their risk factors in different populations

•Understand the epidemiology and distal and proximal causes and consequences of NCDs and common NCD risk factors

•Evaluate and select between different health promotion and intervention strategies to prevent NCDs

•Design an intervention and evaluation plan for the prevention and/or control of NCDs

•Orally present a NCD intervention project idea

Indicative lecture topics: Lecture topics will include: the global burden of NCDs; NCD prevention and control strategies; common risk factors and major NCDs; policy responses to NCDs; health systems readiness and response to NCDs; community interventions; high-risk, individual interventions.

Teaching and learning methods:

Lectures will use an interactive seminar-style approach. Session leads will deliver theoretical content combined with their own research-based examples and experiences of work in the field of global NCDs.

The module will be structured to integrate teaching on key concepts of NCDs with understanding of intervention strategies. Throughout the module, morning session will cover theoretical aspects of global NCDs, including definitions, concepts, metrics and risk. Afternoon sessions will focus on intervention strategies, beginning with a session on concepts of health promotion and intervention development, and then progressing through intervention strategies at the different levels of NCD risk and response, i.e. policy responses, health system responses, general population-level responses, and individualised high-risk approaches. Clear linkages between theoretical concepts of NCDs and intervention strategies will be made.

All course material, including recommended reading and lecture slides, will be available on Moodle, which will also create a space for a peer-support forum.

Reading List: Recommended peer-reviewed literature specific to each lecture will be specified in advance. Additionally, students will be provided with recommended reading from “An Introduction to Population-level Prevention of Non-Communicable Diseases” edited by Mike Rayner et al.