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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Infectious Disease Transmission Models for Decision-Makers by Johns Hopkins University

4.7
stars
368 ratings

About the Course

During the COVID-19 pandemic, both the promise and perils of using infectious disease transmission models to make public health policy decisions became clearer than ever. Optimal use of modeled output requires that public health policy makers be informed consumers of models, that they understand the strengths and limitations of possible approaches, and they know the right questions to ask about the vulnerabilities of the model results. This course aims to provide anyone who makes decisions about public health policies and programs with a clear understanding of how infectious disease transmission models work, the various types and functions, and how they can be appropriately used to make decisions. There is no requirement that students have any prior background in infectious disease models and the course does not include any equations. Anyone with a basic background in public health and infectious diseases with an interest in learning more about infectious disease models will benefit from this course. In this course, participants will review the basics of infectious disease transmission models, including comparisons to other types of predictions used in daily life and an overview of the key components of a model and modeling structure. Next, participants will delve into the types of infectious disease models: forecasting, inferential, and theoretical models. Then, participants will learn about assessing whether a model is useful, reasonable and relevant, as well as the vulnerabilities of these models. These concepts will be applied to case studies of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa from 2014-2016 and the COVID-19 pandemic. The course will be rounded out with a review of how models inform policy decisions, including major sources of uncertainty for decision making. Learners who complete this course will have a broad view of infectious disease transmission models, how to assess the usefulness of a given model, and how these models inform policy decisions. Who should take this course? -Public health policy makers -Anyone interested in learning about how infectious disease transmission models can guide public health policy The development of this training was funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics. We are grateful to Coursera for waiving enrollment fees through 2025....

Top reviews

SK

Aug 8, 2022

As a risk communications practitoner, I highly recommend this refresher course to my colleagues. Thanks JHU and Coursera for making available to the public. My appreciation.

MW

Jan 6, 2023

what a tremendous course most of knowledge we have learned from this. We request to all my dear colleagues to take this course for knowledge gaining about infection

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1 - 25 of 99 Reviews for Infectious Disease Transmission Models for Decision-Makers

By John H

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Aug 8, 2022

I really enjoyed this course and I learned a lot. It was well organized and the material was well presented. I'd recommend to additions to the course. 1. Provide a brief discussion of how the various model structures (mechanistic, statistical, etc) intersect with the types of models (forecasting, inferential, etc). I found the presentation of these two different taxonomies without any discussion of how they related to each other to be confusing. 2. In the final section there were two occasions where the graphics presented would have benefited from more discussion. First was in the ebola discussion. It would have been useful to get more detail on what caused the projected incidence of ebola to be so much higher than the actual incidence. Second, I needed more explanation of the set of graphs showing the best population to target for vaccine to reduce covid-19 infections. I would have liked pointers to the actual lines in the graphs being referenced in the discussion. But all in all, a great course.

By Ahmad J B

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Oct 2, 2022

The course is just right for the moment. It is well structured and delivered to meet the objectives for both modelers and policy decision-makers in a concise manner. I want specially thank the facilitators and Coursera for this platform of educating the world, especially for people like me from low-resource settings. I will recommend it to anyone practicing in the public health space anywhere in the world.

By Nina R

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Nov 27, 2022

Although my educational background is not in public health, I was able to learn a lot from taking this course because it was organised and simple to understand. I was able to understand the fundamentals of the infectious disease transmission model, model selection strategy, and other important factors. Thank you

By Christopher H

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Jan 4, 2023

This course required extreme focus to details and directions to successfully complete. I plan to review my notes and materials obtained. With the triple threat of Covid19, RSV and Flu, one needs to be well educated about infectious diseases and this course provides some necessary tools.

By Nathan F

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Aug 10, 2022

Great overview of infectious disease modeling key concepts, pitfalls, and their appropriate use for public health intervention. The course is effective in conveying concepts clearly and efficiently and the examples are relatable examples and illustrate the concepts nicely.

By ZAKARIE D

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Sep 13, 2022

it was so functioning and well course i am delighted to work with you ,and realy i cant imagine being able to read and listen the same time thanks all the doctors and proffesors who helped me acheive this certificate

thanks once again ,MAY GOD BLESS YOU ALL.

By Konstantina D

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Aug 13, 2022

Thanks to Coursera & John Hopkins University for this Course-

An excellent Review of infectious disease transmission models, how to assess the usefulness of a given model, and how these models inform policy decisions.

By Beffiona H

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Feb 24, 2023

This course helps a lot and understands knowledge that I have never studied before and I am happy because the lecturers who teach are very clear and detailed so that my mind is open to learning the material

By Texca

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Aug 14, 2022

was a really great course, to the persons to work in epidemiology survillance, and the maker desisions, and reaserchers, compleat and excelent desing, congrats and il´l waiting for new courses

By Indira R B D

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Aug 30, 2022

excelente forma para aprender a realizar modelos y facilitar la toma de decisiones. Agradecida por sus enseñanzas, que podré llevar acabo en mi área de trabajo. Muchas gracias.

By Sonny K

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Aug 9, 2022

As a risk communications practitoner, I highly recommend this refresher course to my colleagues. Thanks JHU and Coursera for making available to the public. My appreciation.

By MAX E C R

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Nov 14, 2022

Recomendado, sobre todo para profesionales de salud que no son epidemiólogos pero forman parte de equipos que toman decisiones para implementar políticas de salud pública.

By M W

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Jan 7, 2023

what a tremendous course most of knowledge we have learned from this. We request to all my dear colleagues to take this course for knowledge gaining about infection

By Hajime S

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Aug 14, 2022

I was able to learn the fundamentals of epidemiology in a systematic way. I am surprised myself that I was able to pass the final exam on the second attempt.

By Veronica W

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Aug 14, 2022

I truly liked taking this course. I really learned a lot about Infectious Disease Transmission Models and so much more. This course was very interesting.

By BANGURA M S

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Aug 9, 2022

I'm so estastic to see this course on my mail this morning and able to complete it today. The course is timely for me in my current facility.

By Fernanda D O

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Nov 27, 2022

Very interesting and didactic. Thank you very much to this training in Infectious Disease Transmission Models it is very useful.

By Margaret T

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Aug 30, 2022

As a contact tracer I really enjoyed learning about this subject matter and in particular how public health policy is shaped

By Crystal B O

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Aug 15, 2022

Professor Emily Gurly does a great job outlining the key elements to understand models of infectious disease.

By Sundar R

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Aug 16, 2022

Excellent course for beginners in Health ..... Excellent Materials and explanations ..... Thanks to all....

By REBEKAH H

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Dec 8, 2022

it was clear and easy to understand. I highly recommend this course to the epidemiology and MPH students.

By Gabriella I V

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Aug 30, 2022

interesting class helped expand my knowledge and understanding of models and how to apply them in practice

By maria v

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Aug 30, 2022

Excelente estrategia de aprendizaje en relación a los modelos de transmisión de enfermedades infecciosas.

By David A G C

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Mar 10, 2023

It was interesting down to the last piece of lecture, excellent explanations for the complex problems.

By Arinze E

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Feb 20, 2023

Thank You, Dr. Emily Hurley and others for this relevant information and policy making tool.

Thank You