Alumni speak

As technical officer I have to handle a large amount of data generated by the field institutions and decide on its relevance in devising the technical program of the department which includes incidence/ prevalence of various diseases, outbreak investigations, devising surveillance programs and likewise. The course has been of great help deliver my duties in a more professional manner and I look forward to utilize the knowledge accrued for “Human health through livestock wealth”. Lately, I have been given the charge of a flagship program launched by GOI which goes by the title of “National Animal Disease Reporting System”. The program is all about generating Animal Disease Data esp. for those disease notified by “Office International des Epizooties” which is a parallel body governing livestock issues as is WHO in health sector. It is an online disease register in Livestock sector and once fully functional would not only contribute to estimate disease burden in livestock but also, through an online outbreak reporting integrated with SMS prevent major outbreaks including diseases of zoonotic nature. To be honest I felt that the study material is of good standard. Online lectures by Dr. Preeti Neghandhi are of very good quality and she has been very responsive to the queries posted on discussion board.

This program helped me express my understanding of epidemiology in interview and is still helping me do my job well as a practicing epidemiologist. PGDEPI is a course which I feel is must for all practising public health professionals. It builds on your concepts and helps you solve the on job scenarios as a job-aid. I was able to apply many concepts of epidemiology to build herd immunity in my district against Polio and was able to implement the program on WHO’s safe childbirth checklist in current job. Skills learnt are statistical analysis, designing a study, data collection, new disease outbreak investigation and report writing have become my bread and butter as I am working in a project which is primarily a quasi-experimental study on quality of intra-partum care in labour room.

As a research coordinator, I was well versed with field activities. My knowledge of research was limited to prioritizing interaction with study respondents and following them up consistently over a period of time (in the cohort study), besides developing the questionnaire, consent forms and other tools for the study. I was not actually aware of the implications of “Loss to follow up” although our study had a follow up rate of 95%. But the course modules have encouraged me to get a broader view of Epidemiology as a subject and its significance in public health. I have been bowled over by a few lectures. Must thank all those involved in creating wonderful study modules. Some parts of statistics were particularly very challenging to me. I had to seek help from colleagues at my office and had to find ways to understand concepts. Must admit, I am still not very confident about a lot of things in statistics. Wish there were more explanations to concepts and more questions to work on that would have encouraged students to think on lines of statisticians and understanding the concepts in a better way.

After doing the course, I have developed analytical skills to manage various health related data which is helpful. For e.g., as Assistant Chief Medical Officer, Health (ACMOH) Barasat Sadar subdivision, I can analyse the data obtained from infant death audit performed in 7 community development blocks under me and plan to reduce Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) accordingly. I have seen that about one fifth of the 432 died infants between April 2012 and March 2013 were of very low birth weight (

The course has enhanced my conceptual and practical aspects in public health. I learned about analyzing any public health problem in rational and logical way. I understood concepts of epidemiology through practical aspects. I have conducted research to enhance the disease surveillance system in Mumbai city through involvement of private medical practitioners.

After pursuing PGDEPI, I feel that I have been able to upgrade my skills in order to undertake public health research and data analysis work.

It gave me excellent knowledge about basics of epidemiology and biostatistics. All the concepts of epidemiology were made clear with this course. Before starting this course my concept about epidemiology were totally different. But after completion of this course I am totally aware about what it is. This course makes my orientation towards scientific research. After doing this course I did a small field research and made an original article on that study with the help of your module. I am hopeful that that will be accepted and published. This course also makes my orientation towards other e-learning courses. This course also teaches us how we can enhance our knowledge without going anywhere.

I am feeling more comfortable with regards to my position & job responsibility after pursuing the diploma program in epidemiology. I’m writing manuscript on epidemiological investigation of diarrhoea & jaundice outbreak. I learnt - the basic understanding of key epidemiological principles and terminology; principles and practical methods for conducting epidemiological research; skills in investigating disease outbreak & epidemics and skills in analysing and presenting epidemiological information. All these skills are quite useful and are being utilized in my current job.

I can manage time and office work well. The guidelines are good in epidemiology program. More helpful for a working professional who is not known to this field of epidemiology.

I found PGDEPI-DL course very impressive and informative. It provides all basic knowledge about the public health. PGDEPI-DL course encouraged me to do other courses from IIPH-Delhi and I took admission for PGDCR full time course at IIPH-Delhi to enhance knowledge and skills in the field of public health. Important skills I acquired by doing this course includes:-Understanding of concepts involved in epidemiological research; Statistical methods used in epidemiological research; Different designs and method to conduct epidemiological studies; Basics of non-communicable and communicable diseases and medical writing work. The knowledge I got from PGDEPI-DL course, made me able to apply for the better job opportunities in public health.