CUHK Short Courses

(Last updated on 28 June 2016)

In collaboration with the Summer Institute of the JC School of Public Health and Primary Care at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, CCOUC organises and provides graduate-level disaster and humanitarian technical training to students from a wide variety of backgrounds. Pedagogies including lectures, multi-media-supported learning and role-play simulation exercises are employed in the training courses. Two courses are now available:

1. Disaster & Humanitarian Crisis

Disaster and humanitarian responses are crucial elements in public health practice in the global community. Humanitarian relief actions often highlight the importance of preparedness, training, and multidisciplinary response actions. This course offers participants an overview of the public health and medical implications of disasters and humanitarian crises. It discusses health needs assessment and evaluation post-disaster. It aims to show how public health principles are applied in disaster relief and health-related humanitarian actions. The course includes in-class simulations to highlight the complex dynamics of humanitarian emergencies.

Course content:

Principles of medical humanitarian responses in disasters and crises
Complex emergencies
Natural disasters
Health needs assessments and policies in emergency responses
Man-made disasters
Public health emergency response program planning and evaluation

Participants of excellence performanc in this course are recognized by the CCOUC Outstanding Disaster Project Awards:

2011 - Cecilia, CHOI Yuen See
A Case Study of the West Sumatra Flood in 2010
2012 - Christy, CHAN Oi Yan Jing
A Historical Autopsy of the Vietnamese Refugees in Hong Kong
2012 - Beatrice, LAU
Sahel Nutrition Crisis
(The Sahel is the zone in Africa between the Sahara desert to the north and the Sudanian Savanna to the south, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea and covering parts of Gambia, Senegal, southern Mauritania, central Mali, Burkina Faso, southern Algeria, Niger, northern Nigeria and Cameroon, central Chad, southern Sudan, northern South Sudan and Eritrea.)
2012 - TANAKA Kiwako
The 2011 Tohoku Region Pacific Coast Earthquake
(Tohoku Region covers the north-eastern part of Honshu, the largest island of Japan.)
2013 - Levina Chandra, KHOE
The Unfinished Story of Sidoarjo Mudflow from Public Health Perspectives
(Sidoarjo is in the East Java Province of Indonesia.)
2013 - Christabel, CHAN
2011 High Speed Rail Collision in Wenzhou, China

2. Climate Change & Health

Climate change is an important topic for public health practice in the 21st century. This course offers participants an overview of issues related to climate change and health. It aims to demonstrate the application of public health principles in issues of climate change in order to support community preparedness, response, policy formulation, and implementation.

Students will be introduced to the significance of climate change as well as its occurrence and major contributors. The course focuses on the pathways that illustrate how climate change intricately connects with health and how public health principles may be applied to analyse these health impacts in the global context. A brief lecture on the use of statistical models in studying climate change and health is also provided for those who are more mathematically inclined.

Course content:

Climate change and health overview
Impact of climate change on disease patterns
Human behaviour and adaptation to climate change
From science to policy: Public health responses to climate change

Enrollment Information
Courses will be open for enrollment in May 2016.