TM5518:03
*NOTE* Medical Entomology
Townsville
HECS Band 2
Flexible delivery mode with residential. Semester 2.
Staff: Dr D Canyon.
Arthropod vectors, such as mosquitoes, flies and ticks, transmit diseases to a billion people each year with associated annual mortality of over 1,000,000. A few diseases have been eradicated or controlled to some degree, however many are now re-emerging on a global scale due to a lack of vector specialists, insecticide resistance, diversion of funds to other diseases and lack of treatment. This multidisciplinary subject was developed because the practice of public health is demanding an increasing understanding of the relationship between human health and arthropod vectors. Public health professionals will be increasingly relied upon for assistance in formulating strategic eradication or control policies and will be required to explain the human implications of these policies to the public. Students will acquire knowledge, professional attitudes and skills required for vector-borne disease management by learning about the biology, surveillance and control of disease vectors.
Learning Objectives:
- develop an understanding of the extent of health problems related to disease-bearing arthropods;
- build up a body of skills, knowledge, values and professional ethics and to expand problem solving capacity by defining and solving problems relating to the management of vectors implicated in the transmission of disease;
- develop the ability to evaluate claims, evidence and arguments relating to various medically important vectors via a thorough understanding of vector biodynamics, behaviour and transmission capacity;
- critically analyse vector management strategies in relation to resources and policies;
- become aware of interactions between individuals, communities, environmental parameters, vectors and authority;
- develop an ability to apply knowledge in the development of adaptive vector management strategies that deal with new situations to build up problem-solving and teamwork skills;
- develop communication, literacy and numeracy skills via directed online discussion and chats and formal presentation of peer-reviewed posters and papers.
Assessment by reports (30%); peer-reviewed project (50%); examination (20%).