The use of epidemiological tools in conflict-affected populations: open-access educational resources for policy-makers

Table of Contents

1. Welcome
2. Introduction: Epidemiology in crises
3. Ethical issues in data collection
4. Need for epidemiologic competence
5. Surveys - Introduction
6. Surveys - Description of sampling methods
7. Surveys - Sampling error, bias, accuracy, precision, & sample size
8. Surveys - Resources required for surveys
9. Surveys - Critiquing survey reports
   1. Introduction
   2. Objectives
   3. Justification for survey
   4. General procedures
   5. Outcomes and risk factors
   6. Sample size
   7. Sampling method
   8. Data analysis
   9. Data analysis
   10. Discussion
   11. Conclusions
   12. Recommendations
10. Surveillance - When to do surveillance
11. Surveillance - Methods
12. Surveillance - Common problems
13. Programme data
14. Rapid assessment
15. Mortality - Indicators and their measurement
16. Mortality - Data sources
17. Mortality - Interpretation and action
18. Nutrition - Introduction and background
19. Nutrition - Indicators and their measurement
20. Nutrition - Data sources
21. Nutrition - Interpretation and action
22. Health services
23. Vaccination programmes
24. Water supply, sanitation, and shelter
25. Violence
26. Presentation of results
27. Formulating conclusions and recommendations
28. Dissemination and action

Recommendations

(go to Outline)

Are the recommendations based on the conclusions? Sometimes, program staff are so used to implementing a specific type of program, they will recommend such a program regardless of the survey results.

Are the recommendations useful, or could they have been written without the survey results? If all the recommendations are self-evident, the money and time spent doing the survey was largely wasted. Many survey reports have recommendations like "Improve the nutritional status of children," or "Gather additional information about the health status of the population." These are not useful recommendations. Not only do they not inform specific program decisions, but they could have been written without a survey.

Are the recommendations feasible? It is of little use making recommendations which are impossible to carry out. Recommendations may be more easily implemented if they identify the organizations responsible for specific actions and give a timeline.