Public health careers make a meaningful impact on community wellness and health policy. Learn more about this important field with our helpful resources.
Public health covers a broad range of skills and careers, from epidemiology to health education to policy development and beyond. On Coursera, you'll find the resources you need to accelerate your career, whether you're just beginning your journey in public health or are prepared to take on more responsibility. Explore public health topics, including:
Yes, there are a wide range of options available for students looking to learn about public health online, from individual courses to master’s degrees. And, as in other areas of study, online education gives you the opportunity to learn remotely from top-ranked schools on a flexible schedule from anywhere in the world.
As the world’s leading online learning platform, Coursera offers the full range of these opportunities to learn about public health. Students can take individual courses such as epidemiology, biostatistics, and global health at a lower price than on-campus alternatives, or free collections of public health courses.
In its simplest explanation, Epidemiology is the study of epidemics. It’s the branch of medicine dealing with the incidence and prevalence of disease in large populations. It’s also concerned with detecting the source and cause of infectious disease.
Major infectious diseases not only have serious health-related consequences—being disasters that affect a vast range of communities within a larger population, they also have policy and social implications that need to be addressed. An education in Epidemiology is extremely important in giving people the skills they need to help inform decisions around public health policy, screening, and prevention in the event of infectious disease spread.
Health policy involves the principles that state how healthcare is given and its goals for improvement. It can be based on a state, national, or global level. It can also apply at a clinical and hospital level. Health policies are implemented for the safety and security of the public and can vary between places.
A Master of Public Health (MPH) is a graduate-level degree that focuses on studying public health issues, like community awareness, communicable diseases, violence and prevention, water treatment, mental health, disparities in health care access, social isolation, food security, and healthy nutrition. An MPH is not a research-based or thesis degree. It focuses more on practical applications, like improving the health of a particular population through a career in a field like health care, education, public policy, administration, emergency management, or communications. People who choose to earn an MPH often have the option to choose a specialty, like epidemiology, biostatistics, maternal and child health, nutrition, environmental health, or public health administration.
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