The world is facing unprecedented humanitarian needs. Today’s humanitarian crisis tend to be greater in number, often in urban settings, longer in duration and broader in regional impact. They generate human sufferings on a greater scale, disrupt essential services, such as water supply or sanitation and put health of large population at risk. Engineers and technical specialists in water, sanitation, energy, environment, and in other related fields play a vital role to respond to these challenges and growing needs. In the humanitarian sector, they are called the public health engineers and today they are increasingly needed! Why public health engineering matters so much in humanitarian crises? And how its related activities are carrying out in such complex environment? This is what this MOOC is all about!
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Introduction to Public Health Engineering in Humanitarian Contexts
École Polytechnique Fédérale de LausanneAbout this Course
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Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
Public Health Engineering
The first week introduces the topic of public health engineering and see how engineers can have a significant impact to reduce the mortality and morbidity encountered in many humanitarian contexts. In order to do so, engineers should have a good understanding on how infectious diseases are transmitted. This is why you will be introduced to different environmental transmission pathways of diseases and you will see some measures to be taken to prevent the spread of some diseases. Real study case examples will be introduced to support the understanding.
Humanitarian contexts
During this week, the humanitarian context in which public health engineering activities take place is presented. We will see how protracted conflicts affect urban essential services, such as water supply and sanitation, resulting in public health issues.
WATER SUPPLY SYSTEMS
The week does a review of water technologies commonly used from the source to the distribution point. We discuss some pros and cons of different water systems that may be encountered in humanitarian contexts.
Sanitation
The fourth week does a review of sanitation technologies and excreta management. Case studies illustrate some challenges and practices in humanitarian sector.
Reviews
TOP REVIEWS FROM INTRODUCTION TO PUBLIC HEALTH ENGINEERING IN HUMANITARIAN CONTEXTS
It is a course which every one must take not just for community service or career development but also for the knowledge of personal hygiene and to understand the suffering of people around the world
This is really how we sustaine in poor sanitation place to prevention of diseases from flies,faceous,and other wastes and water management like drinking,cooking, and transportation activities.
It was actually a tough course , well I learnt a lot about humanitarai crises as well as about the segregation of different kinds of waste. And the documentary on jail prisoners amazing
Learning about the Public Health engineering in humanitation contexts really enriched my knowledge and transformed my way of thinking regarding to the waste we produce in our society.
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