Epidemiology is the fundamental science and key tools of public health. The aim of this course is to give students a grounding in the basic concepts of epidemiology and is designed to introduce epidemiology, its methods and its role in public health. The student will be familiarized with basic measures used in describing disease frequency in populations. Descriptive and analytic approaches to the study of disease will be explored and students will gain insight about: measuring and interpreting patterns of disease occurrence; routine sources of data, their strengths and limitations; study designs used in epidemiology and when to apply them.