Biostatistics and Information Technology I

Many problems in health, medical and life sciences are addressed by collecting and exploring relevant data. The development and application of techniques to better understand such data is the fundamental concern in biostatistics. Biostatistics is applied statistics in the biological and medical sciences for public health practice. Based on the data and models they provide, epidemiology the study of the causes, spread, and control of diseases across time and space—gives us information about the state of health, morbidity, and mortality in the human population. Biostatistics is a crucial and invaluable tool in the development of public health policies and initiatives. Together, biostatistics and epidemiology form the basis of public health and guide all other decisions related to the prevention and control of disease—both communicable and noncommunicable—in populations locally and globally.