| Topic |
Speaker: Dr Salome A Rebello
Title: Nutrition, obesity and cardiovascular disease
Short Synopsis: What we eat and drink can affect our health in many ways. A lack of essential nutrients (vitamins, minerals, selected fatty acids and amino acids) can lead to severe deficiency diseases and low energy or protein intake can lead to malnutrition. Excess energy intake, 'overeating', can also lead to ill health: accumulation of too much body fat can interfere with normal metabolism and contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and certain types of cancer. In terms of public health interventions, it is increasingly realized than only educational initiatives have limited impact on improving lifestyles. An approach where healthier choices become easy or even default choices by changing the food and physical activity environmental is also warranted. This lecture will be an opportunity to engage students in a discussion on novel policies and interventions to improve dietary intakes of the population and contain the future burden of chronic diseases.
Objectives:
1. To know about the global prevalence of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases and how economic transitions are typically accompanied by epidemiological and dietary transitions.
2. To have a basic understanding about the ways that dietary intakes can affect the development of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases
3. To reflect on determinants of dietary intakes in the populations and a diversity of intervention and policy initiatives that can improve dietary intakes and reduce the incidence of chronic diseases.
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Speaker: Dr Hanh Hao La
Title: Estimating sizes of key populations
Short Synopsis: We often know the prevalence of a disease in populations at risk, yet we do not know the size of these key populations. Estimates of key populations are needed to help with policy and program planning and management. Using HIV as a case example, this seminar will discuss indirect and direct methods to estimate the size of key, and often hidden, populations.
Objectives:
1. To receive an overview of direct and indirect methods of estimating sizes of key populations at risk for HIV
2. To understand the advantages and disadvantages of each method
3. To appreciate how estimates of key populations can be used in HIV policy and programming decisions
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Speaker: Assoc Prof Chia Sin Eng
Title: Work and Health
Short Synopsis: Work may have an adverse impact on the health status of an individual; the health status of an individual may also have an impact on his or her work.
Objectives:
1. An introduction on the interactions between work and health
2. Highlight various workplace hazards by categories (viz. safety, physical, chemical, biological, ergonomic and psychosocial).
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Speaker: Assoc Prof Alex Cook
Title: Controlling dengue in Singapore
Short Synopsis: Dengue is a vector borne disease that is endemic to Singapore and that has large health and economic impacts on the country. Unlike influenza or many other viruses, dengue is in a sense easier to control, because without the mosquito, there can be no transmission of the virus, and as a result, Singapore invests a lot in vector control. Despite this, the virus continues to circulate. In this class, we will look at the epidemiology of dengue in Singapore and consider what are the factors that prevent us from eliminating dengue.
Objectives:
At the end of the class, students should have a good understanding of the basic epidemiology of dengue, methods we are using to prevent dengue transmission, and new methods of vector control that are being developed.
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Speaker: Assoc Prof Sri Chander
Title: Maternal and Child Health
Short synopsis: Investing in the health of women and children is critical for every nation’s development. The countdown to meet the global Millennium Developments goals for child and maternal mortality reduction is less than a year away—end 2015. What is the current state of progress? We will discuss the main challenges and critical program gaps encountering women, children, providers, and policymakers in some of the world's most vulnerable communities. How can the global community’s collective commitment ensure that more children live past their fifth birthday and fewer women die or suffer complications during pregnancy and childbirth? We will learn how a life course perspective can be applied to gain a critical understanding of maternal and child health issues.
Objectives:
1. To discuss the causes and trends of new born, infant, child, adolescent and maternal deaths and illnesses
2. To understand key factors (gender, behavioural, socio-cultural, economic, geographic & policy, etc) influencing their vulnerability to disease and /or death
3. To describe and critically evaluate responses to mitigate these preventable deaths and illnesses
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Speaker: Prof Ong Choon Nam
Title: Forest Fires, Climate Change & Singapore: Challenges, Opportunities, Partnerships
Short synopsis: This lecture cum seminar will focus on the interactions on environment sustainability for Singapore and the region and how it will affect public health. Some of the recent development and topical issues such as forest fires, haze and climate change on public health will also be discussed.
Objectives:
Have a basic understanding of
1. What are the major environmental factors that will affect public health in Singapore and the region?
2. Why a sustainable environment is critical to public health?
3. What are the main challenges to maintain a sustainable environment?
4. How can we have a sustainable environment?
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Speaker: Assoc Prof Teo Yik Ying
Title: Public Health in the Era of Genomics
Short synopsis: This seminar will provide an introduction to how the advent of genomic technology is expected to impact multiple aspects of public health and the practice of clinical medicine. This seminar will also review the development of genomics in pharmacology, infectious and chronic diseases, the integration of population cohort studies with genetics and the challenges and opportunities present in public health genomics.
Objectives:
1. To appreciate the different facets of public health that are impacted by the genomic revolution
2. To understand the challenges and opportunities that the genomic era presents for public health
3. To realize the importance in gearing up the healthcare agencies to understand, interpret and utilize genomic information in the formulation of public health policies.
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Speaker: Assoc Prof Gerald Koh
Title: Singapore's Ageing Society and Its Implications on Our Healthcare System
Short Synopsis: This seminar will focus on the demographics of aging internationally and in Singapore, and its implications to public health.
Objectives:
1. To describe the global and local phenomenon of ageing
2. To understand how ageing affects public health
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Speaker: Dr Wee Hwee Lin
Title: Antibiotic Resistance
Short Synopsis:
The discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming in 1928 ushered in the beginning of the golden era of antibiotics, a very important class of drugs that treat diseases caused by microorganisms, specifically bacteria. However, as the use of antibiotic became increasing prevalent, resistant strains of bacteria were increasingly reported. This is to say, the drugs have lost their effectiveness.
Antibiotic resistance is now a major public health concern. It is a complex multifactorial issue that affects not just human health but animal welfare too. The development of resistant strains were no longer limited to the clinical environment but has extended to the community. Hence, public education on antibiotic resistance is critical to addressing this pressing public health issue.
Objectives:
1. Provide an overview of the economic, humanistic, and environmental impact of antibiotic resistance.
2. Discuss the factors that contribute to antibiotic resistance.
3. Discuss potential strategies to minimize the rate of development of antibiotic resistance.
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Speaker: Assoc Prof Norbert Ludwig Wagner
Title: The Health of Workers – how our tastes shape the health of people globally
Short Synopsis:
People have to work to sustain themselves and to create a future for their families. Work therefore shapes our life and the life of others. Through the globalization of production, trade and consumption the health of millions of people around the globe are connected and determined. We will look at working conditions in the formal and informal sector, the risks and chances work creates for a healthy life and how our own tastes and fashions shape the fate of people in other continents.
Objectives:
1. Name major diseases and occupational risks that contribute to the current global burden of disease through work
2. Identify examples how consumption patterns in one part of the world influence living conditions in other parts of the world and potentially contribute to health inequalities
3. Discuss social and working conditions of the informal sector of economy |