Undergraduate - UnitHSC3102 - Environmental determinants of health and disease

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Synopsis

This unit explores the role of environmental factors in human health, how environmental health hazards are identified and how the risks can be assessed and managed. This unit will cover chemical, biological and physical hazards and their potential health effects in a range of environmental contexts.
This unit will encourage students to critically evaluate environmental health information and its application in realistic situations. In this unit students will explore practical examples of environmental health hazards to identify the human health risks present, ways to assess exposure and options and strategies for assessment and management of the health risks identified.

Outcomes

On successful completion of the unit, students will be able to:

• Describe the essential principles of hazard identification, risk assessment, risk management and risk communication.
• Demonstrate fluency with the basic concepts and terms used to describe chemical, physical and biological hazards.
• Describe basic principles of identifying common hazards and nominate ways to assess the risks presented.
• Nominate common interventions used to control environmental risks and the key personal, social and economic factors which may reduce the effectiveness or prevent control measures being successful.
• Critically evaluate environmental health research evidence and to explain the limitations, relevance and application of the evidence to specific situations.

Assessment

Hurdle requirement: Students are required to attend at least 80% of tutorials
1 x in-class quiz (1 hour): 17%
1 x minor written assignment (1,000 words each): 17%
1 x major written assignment (2,000 words): 33%
Written examination (2 hour): 33%

Contact hours

3 contact hours per week plus 9 hours per week private study

Prerequisites

HSC2141