Course Descriptions

HSC 547: Infectious Diseases, STIs & HIV/AIDS

This course deals with three different aspects of diseases related with reproductive, maternal and child health.

Infectious Diseases: Common infectious diseases and epidemiology at global, regional and national level; modes of transmission and their control; history of infectious diseases, policies, interventions and epidemiological transition.

Sexually Transmitted Infections: Definitions of sexually transmitted diseases; classification of STI’s; traditional approaches to STI diagnosis; epidemiology of common STD’s: STI prevention and control strategies; exploration of STI, its biology, risk factors, and socio-economic consequences.

HIV/AIDS: Introduction to HIV/AIDS and modes of transmission; Epidemiology and Public Health Impact of HIV and AIDS at global and national level;; its prevention and control strategies; National HIV/AIDS scenario, services, and policies in Bangladesh; International Interventions for HIV/AIDS.
N/A
  1. It is the student’s responsibility to gather information about the assignments and covered topics during the lectures missed. Regular class attendance is mandatory. Points will be taken off for missing classes. Without 70% of attendance, sitting for the final exam is NOT allowed. According to IUB system, students must enter the classroom within the first 20 minutes to get the attendance submitted.
  2. The date and syllabus of the quiz, midterm, and final exam are already given here, however, announcements will be given ahead of time. There is NO provision for make-up quizzes.
  3. The reading materials for each class will be given prior to that class so that student may have a cursory look at the materials.
  4. Class participation is vital for better discussing of sociological issues. Students are invited to raise questions.
  5. Students should take tutorials with the instructor during the office hours. Prior appointment is required.
  6. Students must maintain the IUB code of conduct and ethical guidelines offered by the School of Public Health.
The course will be based mostly on the following books [some other books and journals may be referred time to time]:
  1. Amy O. Tsui, Judith N. Wasserheit, and John G. Haaga, Editors; Panel on Reproductive Health, National Research Council, Reproductive Health in Developing Countries: Expanding Dimensions, Building Solutions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press; 1997.
  2. Laura Reichenbach, Mindy Jane Roseman, Editors: Reproductive Health and Human Rights, The Way Forward: University of Pennsylvania Press; 2009.
Students will be assessed on the basis of their overall performance in all the exams, quizzes, and class participation. Final numeric reward will be the compilation of:
  • Two quizzes due in different times of the semester (20%)
  • One assignment (15%)
  • One mid-term test (25%)
  • A cumulative final exam (30%)
  • A participation mark (10%) will reflect the performance of presentation and question answer session on a time demanding issue related with this course;
[Class attendance is mandatory; failure to do so may deduct the final marks]
The following chart will be followed for grading. However, the course instructor may use overall distribution of the cumulative marks and define appropriate cut-offs for final letter grade.
A A- B+ B B- C+ C C- D+ D F
90-100 85-89 80-84 75-79 70-74 65-69 60-64 55-59 50-54 45-49 0-44
Students who are willing to audit the course are welcome during the first two classes and are advised to contact the instructor after that.
Plagiarism – that is, the presentation of another person’s thoughts or words as though they were the student’s own – must be strictly avoided. Cheating and plagiarism on exam and assignments are unacceptable.
Please see the Green Book for further information about academic regulation and policies, including withdrawal and grading, appeals and penalties for plagiarism and academic misconduct.
Students with disabilities are required to inform the Department of Law of any specific requirement for classes or examination as soon as possible.
Awarding of Incomplete or ‘I’ grades should be strongly discouraged. ‘I’ will only be allowed for students who have a valid reason (ascertained by the senior management). In situations where the student is unable to complete the course due to unanticipated illness or family emergency and has not attended at least 75% of the classes held, he / she will be asked to withdraw from that course and repeat it. In unavoidable circumstances where students have completed 75% of the classes but are unable to continue (due to illness or family emergency), incomplete grade of ‘I’ may be granted. Incomplete course has to be completed by the end of the next semester, otherwise grade ‘I’ automatically becomes grade ‘F’. The student is not required to register for the course in the next semester.
A ‘W’ grade means withdrawal. A student may decide to withdraw from a course by the deadline. Students must apply to the Program Office for withdrawal from a course with the permission of the concerned course instructor, Academic Advisor, and the Dean. Withdrawal from only one course in a semester is allowed but the students should provide valid reason along with documents while applying for the withdrawal.
A student can misses a maximum of 8 classes for a particular course. After that the course will be automatically withdrawn. A student automatically withdrawn from a course will NOT be allowed to UNDO it under any circumstances.
Change of grade is strongly discouraged. However, an instructor may request a change of grade when a computational or procedural error occurred in the original assignment of a grade. Instructor must submit the ‘Grade Change Form’ to the respective program office within one month of submitting the final grade rolls. A Grade change has to be requested within 1 month of the day of publishing the grades.