Online Lecture 1: The epidemiological transition (rescheduled)

Lecturer: Prof. Isabelle Devos, Ghent University

Content of the lecture/ workshop: This lecture combines theoretical content with active learning to help students understand the epidemiological transition theory in a global and historical context. Special emphasis is placed on assessing the quality of the cause-of-death data when examining the epidemiological transition.

Objectives of the lecture/ workshop: This lecture aims to allow students to think critically about the theory, its updates and derivatives (e.g. health transition) and potential factors driving the transition (economic development, public health, medical progress, etc.).

Requirements: It is advisable to review the articles to facilitate an informed discussion during class. 

Recommended reading: 

• Omran  Abdel R. (1971). The Epidemiologic Transition: A Theory of the Epidemiology of Population Change. The Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly, 49(4), 509–538. https://doi.org/10.2307/3349375
• Mackenbach Johan P. (2022). Omran’s ‘Epidemiologic Transition’ 50 Years on. International Journal of Epidemiology, 51(4),1054–1057, https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyac020

Optional reading and assignment:

• Weisz George, Olszynko-Gryn Jesse (2010). The Theory of Epidemiologic Transition: the Origins of a Citation Classic. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 65(3), 287–326. https://doi.org/10.1093/jhmas/jrp058
• Explore the trends in mortality for one infectious and one non-infectious disease of a European country of your choice since the early 20th century. Compare these findings with those from a country in a different European region, and a non-western country. Possible data source: WHO mortality database (https://platform.who.int/mortality/themes/theme-details/MDB) and the cause-of-death data series of the Human Mortality database (https://www.mortality.org/Data/HCD).

You can download the presentation by prof. Isabelle Devos in .pdf