Adapting an Infectious Diseases Course for “Engaged Citizen” Themes

Abstract

This article describes philosophies and perspectives underpinning scientific citizenship–focused curricular changes implemented into a pre-existing undergraduate infectious diseases course. Impetus for the curricular changes was a novel, campus-wide, multidisciplinary “Engaged Citizen” theme for the general education curriculum. The first half of the article describes the larger contexts from which the curricular changes were borne and the resulting instructional model. The second half of the article shares both student and instructor perspectives on the curricular changes and potential application of the model to other science courses.

Promoting civic engagement with neglected tropical disease education

“…These diseases include Chagas disease, dengue, foodborn trematodiases, leishmaniasis, leprosy, lymphatic filariasis, schistosomiasis, soil transmitted helminthiases, and trachoma (WHO, 2013). In addition to causing over 200,000 deaths per year and collectively burdening 149 countries with billions of dollars in treatment and prevention costs, approximately 50 million years of healthy life and billions of dollars of productivity are lost to NTDs each year (CDC, 2011;Norris et al, 2012;WHO, 2013 Reducing the significant public health burden that NTDs impose is a capacious problem that will require the concerted efforts of community activists, health care workers, scientists, politicians, and economists to solve (MacFarlane et al, 2008). Due to the lack of affordable or effective curative therapies and preventive vaccines, the most effective approach for reducing the disease burden of NTDs is often prevention.…”