Back to Infectious Disease Transmission Models for Decision-Makers
Johns Hopkins University

Infectious Disease Transmission Models for Decision-Makers

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.

Status: Policy Analysis
Status: Case Studies
BeginnerCourse3 hours

Featured reviews

MW

5.0Reviewed 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

RA

4.0Reviewed Aug 22, 2023

This the best course for me as per required my job-related. I learned much. And need Data Analysis, Data Collection, and organizing data.With thanks & regards

PV

5.0Reviewed Jun 2, 2023

It was a real experience inspite of being online classes had good speaker who were great mentors ,knowledge based practical examples . Thnaks to coursera for itregards

CB

5.0Reviewed Aug 14, 2022

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

PO

5.0Reviewed Jul 22, 2023

I learned a from this course about the different infection control models and how they are link together.

MT

5.0Reviewed Aug 29, 2022

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

GV

5.0Reviewed Aug 29, 2022

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

MH

4.0Reviewed Jan 5, 2026

A very informative and Knowledge based structure was woven into a comprehensible presentation of this course. Congratulation to the Team

SR

5.0Reviewed Aug 15, 2022

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

VW

5.0Reviewed Aug 13, 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.

BS

5.0Reviewed Aug 8, 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.

RH

5.0Reviewed Dec 7, 2022

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

All reviews

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