PBHL12001 - Communicable Diseases and Public Health

Showing: 2026 HE Term 3
General Information

Unit Synopsis

The prevention of disease is recognised internationally as being of fundamental importance to quality of life and is a core skillset for any public health professional. This unit covers the important public health topic of communicable diseases and their control. Students will learn the value of participation by engaging in team activities and tutorial activities. They will learn about prevention by exploring the aetiologies, risk factors, epidemiological trends and underlying issues relating to a wide range of communicable diseases. Students will critique the public health literature and public health campaigns to discover the importance of partnerships in the effective control of communicable diseases. Topics will include the aetiology, transmission, epidemiological trends and control strategies relating to a range of communicable diseases, including enteric, vaccine preventable and sexually transmitted infections. The impact of communicable disease upon individual and population health will be explored, with particular emphasis on the indigenous community and global context. Students will develop skills in disease surveillance and/or the prevention or management of disease outbreaks. Residential school will be compulsory for Environmental Health students but optional for Health Promotion and other students.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 2
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

48 credit points

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School Compulsory Residential School
View Unit Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2027

Term 1 - 2027 Profile
Melbourne Mixed Mode

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

Previous Feedback

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: Office of Deputy Dean Learning & Teaching; personal observation
Feedback:
Short answer quizzes provided opportunity for students to use generative AI to answer the questions.

Recommendation:
Redesign quizzes to limit the opportunity for academic misconduct using generative AI.

Action Taken:
Some quiz questions were redesigned but further changes to reduce risk will be necessary.
Source: Discussions between Head of Course and Head of College (Science & Sustainability).
Feedback:
International students will be enrolling in this unit on campus in Melbourne from Term 1 2026. Face to face structured tutorials will need to be delivered to meet student needs.

Recommendation:
Commence development of structured tutorials so that these are ready for deliver in Term 1 2026.

Action Taken:
Additional contact hours have been planned and structured tutorial activities will be delivered in 2026.
Source: UC reflection
Feedback:
Online tests are still susceptible to generative AI use.

Recommendation:
Continue to redesign assessment task 2 to reduce risk.

Action Taken:
In Progress
Unit Learning Outcomes
This information will not be available until 8 weeks before term.
To see Learning Outcomes from an earlier availability, please search via a previous term.