Graduate Program

Course Credit: 2

• Introduction: Demographic data, Methods of collecting demographic data, Sources of demographic data: Census Operations in Bangladesh, Sample surveys in Bangladesh, DHSs in Bangladesh, Vital Registration
• Errors in Demographic Data: Types and sources of errors in demographic data.
• Evaluating Quality of Demographic Data: Assessment of Coverage errors: Micro and Macro-analytic techniques, use of growth rate formula, Post Enumeration Check (PEC), Dual Record system.
• Evaluating Quality of Demographic Data: Assessment of Content Error: General Assessment of age and sex data; Whipple Index, Mayers’ Index, UN Age-Sex Accuracy Index.
• Evaluation of Summary Fertility Data from Censuses: Assessment of parity data, The el-Badry correction, evaluation of data on recent fertility from censuses.
• Adequacy of Migration Statistics: Adequacy of International Migration Statistics, Use of balancing equation, international comparison, direct checks; Adequacy of Internal Migration Statistics: Continuous population registers, census statistics relating to internal migration, tests of data on place of birth, tests of data on place of residence at a previous date, direct checks
• Adjustment of Demographic Data: Graphical method, Carrier-Farrang ratio method, Quadratic interpolation, Osculatory interpolation, Moving average method.

Course Credit: 2

• Introduction and Background: Traditional View of the Health. Limitations of the Traditional View. Reflections on Key Concepts: Population Health and Public Health. Population and Public Health. Difference between Population and Public Health. Benefits of Population Health Approach. History of the Emergence of Population Health. Foundations of Population Health. Models for Population Health
• Components of Population Health: Population Health Components: Health Outcome; Health Determinants; Policies. Pillars of Population Health: Chronic Care Management; Quality and Safety; Public Health; Health Policy. Core Principals of Population Health
• Measuring Population Health: Traditional Measures of Population Health and Its Limitation; Summary Measures of Population Health
• Determinants of Population Health: Policy; Social factors (social determinants of health); Health services; Individual behavior; Biology and genetics. The ecological framework
• Non-Health Policies: How Non-Health Policies Can Affect Population Health

Course Credit: 4

• Introduction to Nutrition and Food Science: Definitions of nutrition, food safety, food security, Malnutrition and chronic malnutrition, Concepts of food-Nutrition and nutrients, macronutrients-Carbohydrates, Fat and Proteins; Macronutrients-Vitamins and Minerals, their chemical structures, basic physiological functions, name and deficiency diseases, Body requirement and RDA.  Aspects of Food science, Concepts of food, food sources, Nutritive values of common foodstuffs, functions of foods, loss of nutrients in different condition, food beliefs and misconception. Nutritional status, role of nutrition in human development, forms and types of malnutrition, importance of nutrition, nutritional assessment. Food composition and classification, food production, food system and food security and food contaminants and toxicants.
• Human Nutrition and Food Security: Major Nutrients Diseases (Protein-energy malnutrition, Vitamin A deficiency disorders, Iodine deficiency disorder, Nutritional Anemia, Obesity- cause, types, complications and management), Supplementary feeding: Concepts, advantages, disadvantages, coast and benefits of feeding programs; Nutritional impact of feeding programs; measures to improve the nutritional impact of feeding programs, Household Food Security: Definitions, concepts and importance of household food  and nutrition security; Situation of Household food security in Bangladesh; Groups at risk of food and nutrition security;
• Maternal, Child and Elderly Nutrition: Adolescents nutrition and growth, Care during pregnancy and lactation, Maternal nutrition and pregnancy outcome, Maternal protein-energy malnutrition, micro-nutrient, malnutrition and its effect on infant growth, development and health, Infant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN), Elderly nutrition

• Climate change and Food Security: Climate Change and Food Production; Climate Change and Food Projection, Understanding the current food production system in the context of climate change Bangladesh, Investing in an alternative future food system; Essential actions for food security and climate stabilization.
• Nutritional Problems: Protein-energy malnutrition- Protein and energy requirements of different age groups; energy intake and expenditure, gender variation in the intake, adaptation theory protein-energy interaction; micro-nutrient, linear growth retardation-causes, chronic energy deficiency (CED) and its consequences, Micronutrients and health development- Micronutrient malnutrition (hidden hunger), health and social effects of micronutrient deficiencies.  Long term food security problems of Bangladesh and developing countries. Major nutritional problems in Bangladesh.
• Assessment of Nutritional Status and Food Security:  Direct methods (Dietary assessment, Clinical Assessment and Anthropometric assessment); Indirect methods (Dietary intake, Socio-economic and ecological assessment); Nutritional Survey and surveillance, Concepts, measurements and interpretation of food security indicators, Food Security Assessment Indicators, Global food indicators on food security
• Nutrition in Emergencies: Definition of nutritional emergency; its causes and implication; Management and practice of different type of emergency feeding program (general food distribution, mas feeding, therapeutic feeding, and special foods during emergency). Macro- and micro nutrient deficiencies in emergency. Assessment and surveillance of nutritional status in emergency, Monitoring and evaluation of nutritional emergencies; responsibilities and mandate of UN bodies and different GOs and NGOs in emergency situation; 
• Population Food Security and Nutrition Nexus: Conditions of public health in Bangladesh; nutritional referrals and utilization of public health facilities; measures to improve health environment and utilization of public health facilities, Low birth weight and its consequences; nutrition and national development: development effects in labor productivity, education, population growth and health expenditure, Groups at risk of food and nutrition security; identification of food insecure households, Nutrition Communication: Strategies of nutrition communication, identification of target groups and their needs, tools, methods and media of nutrition communication and their limitations, formulation and testing of nutritional messages and communication materials and development of curriculum
• Program Policy and Planning:  Addressing Malnutrition: Need for nutrition planning; sectoral approach to nutrition planning, Role of national organizations in nutrition education; role of voluntary and international organizations in nutrition education; limitations of nutrition education programs, Food, Nutrition Policy and Act in Bangladesh; components of food and nutrition policies, Agricultural policies and programs affecting nutrition Food Safety Laws (2013), Approaches to combat malnutrition: Supplementation, Food fortification, food based approaches: concepts, potentials, advantages, costs, government and private sector involvement; monitoring and evaluation; Genetically Modified Crops , Strategies and Programs for Food Security and Nutrition; measures to improve household food and nutrition security , Government program for Food and Nutrition Security interventions and Interventions; Selected agricultural interventions to improve food security

Course Credit: 4

• Introduction to Population Planning and Human Resource Development (HRD): Concepts and Definitions; Components of Population Planning and Human Resource Development; Demographic Analysis in the Planning Process; Demographic Dividend and HRD
• The Theory of Human Resource Development: The theory integration proposition; Economic Theory of HRD; Psychological Theory of HRD; System Theory Component of HRD
• Human Capital Formation and Human Development: Human Development Paradigm, UNDP Human Development Index (HDI); Use of HDI for Policy Analysis; Critiques of HDI, Inequality-adjusted HDI (IHDI); Human Poverty Index (HPI); Gender related Development Index (GDI); Gender Inequality Index (GII); Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)
• Labor Force Analysis for Population Planning and Human Resource Development Determinants of labor supply and demographic factors determining labor force growth; Labor underutilization, unemployment rate, under employment rate, Labor force participation rates; the demographic dividend, Strategies of human resource development of reaping benefits of demographic dividend
• International Labor Migration: Levels and trends of international migration, remittances, brain drain versus brain gain; future prospects and challenges of international migration for Bangladesh
• Health and Nutrition: Basic indicators of health and nutrition status; health and economic development; Determinants of health status; Health and nutrition issues in human resource development; health and nutrition policies in human resource development in Bangladesh
• Education and Human Resource Development: Education and development (major educational goals, quantity versus quality approaches in education; prospects and challenges of educational expansion); education, inequality and poverty; Human resource planning
• Population Planning for Sustainable Development: Definition, components, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Challenges and prospects of ensuring sustainable development in Bangladesh

Course Credit: 4

• Concepts and Fundamentals of Health System: This section will introduce the students with the basic concepts of health system i.e., application of system theory in understanding health system; health system building blocks i.e., health information system, health system financing, financing functions and  dominant modes of financing, health workforce; health service provision,  health system functions i.e, generating resources, service provision;  health system goals; health system boundary; health system strengthening and frameworks for health system strengthening. This section will impart knowledge on health systems from low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries around the world.
• Theoretical Frameworks and Approaches to Health System: This section will introduce dominant theoretical approaches and frameworks for health system strengthening, analysis and performance measurements to the students.
• Universal Health Care: In this section goals and objectives of Universal Health Care will be introduced. It will explain why Universal Health Care is needed; health system features for Universal Health Care. It will expose student to the current arguments over Universal Health Coverage.  It will focus on the issues in Universal Health Coverage and Progress towards Universal Health Coverage.
• Health System in Bangladesh: This section will focus on health system in Bangladesh from the perspective of health system building blocks and health system functions. The section will explain the key features of health system in Bangladesh; administrative structure for public health service provision and its funding in Bangladesh; key elements of the health system as related to costs, coverage, access, and quality of health care in Bangladesh; human resource capacity development and health workforce in Bangladesh, health system financing and health system governance in Bangladesh; specific public health and health service delivery problems in Bangladesh; health systems policy development; policy and programmatic options for addressing specific public health and health service delivery problems in Bangladesh; Health System Challenges for Bangladesh; Future prospect for Universal Health Coverage.
• Health System in Bangladesh: Health Disparities: This section will develop students’ understanding of health disparities across social, economic and cultural groups as well as strategies to reduce those disparities in the context of health system in Bangladesh. It will focus on how the marginalization of populations based on class, gender, religion etc. affects health behavior and health status and how health system policy approaches can contribute towards a more equitable distribution of social, economic, and political resources for achieving health equity

Course Credit: 4

• Introduction: Ideas of multivariate data, applications of multivariate techniques
• Multivariate Distributions: Multinomial distributions with properties, Multivariate normal distribution with properties
• Inference about a Mean Vector: Introduction, Test of a mean vector of normal population; Comparisons of Several Multivariate Means: paired comparison, comparing mean for two populations, several means comparison.
• Multivariate Regression models: Multivariate Linear regression models, Multivariate logistic regression models
• Multivariate Analysis of Variance: Introduction, One-way MANOVA, Two Way MANOVA
• Principal Components: Introduction, Population principal components, summarizing sample variation by principal components
• Factor Analysis: Introduction, the orthogonal factor model, methods of estimation, factor rotation, factor scores.
• Structural Equation Modeling: Introduction, fundamental equation for SEM, models identification, estimation, assessing the model fit, model modification.

Course Credit: 4

• Introduction: Origin and Development; Definition; Nature and Scope; Social Sciences, Natural Sciences and Health; Methodological Issues.
• Basic Issues: Health and Illness; Diseases; Epidemiology; Medicalization
• Theoretical Perspectives: Basic Theoretical Perspectives in Social Sciences; Interpretation of Health and Illness Issues
• Contemporary Issues: Western Biomedical Model; The Body; Medicine History; Postmodernity; Neoliberalism
• Health, Gender and Feminism:  Basic Issues; Women Patients; Patriarchal Science and Medicine; Men, Gender and Health
• Health, Race and Ethnicity: Basic Issues, Aboriginality, Race and Disease; Ethnicity; Genetic Issues
• Health Care and Social System:  The Physician-Patient Relationship; Health Professions; Health and Illness Management

Course Credit: 2

• Introduction to Global Health: Defining and Measuring Global Health; Principles and Goals of Global Health; Health Determinants, Measurements, and Trends; International Cooperation in Global Health: A Historical Overview; Principles and Goals of Global health, Global Burden of Diseases, Unequal Distribution of Health in the World
• Health Systems and Global Health Governance: Frame work for Health Systems; NCDs and Health Care Systems; Financing Universal Health Coverage; Health System and Financing in a Global Perspective; Global Health Governance; Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, The Role of International Actors in the Delivery of Health Services, Health Service Delivery- Demand Side Issues; Health Service Delivery- Supply Side Issues; Health System in Low and Middle Income Countries; the Role of NGOs in Global Health
• Priorities in Global Health Policy and Challenges of Global Health Importance: Unfinished agenda—Maternal and Child Health and Rights Globally; Unfinished Agenda—Global Health Impact of HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis; Undernutrition and Obesity; Violence and Injuries; Chronic Diseases and Risk Factors; Emerging Infectious Diseases; Urban Health in Developing Countries, Migration and Health: Climate Change, Refugees and Internally and Internationally Displaced/ Humanitarian Emergencies/ Healthcare in Emergencies
• Ethical Issues in Global Health Research and Interventions: Ethics and Human Rights; Ethical and Human Rights Concern in Global Health Research and Interventions

Course Credit: 2

• Concepts and definitions related to population estimates and projection: estimates versus projections, importance of population estimates and projection from a policy perspective, understanding population projection, who produces projections
• Theoretical Perspectives on fertility: Trends and Patterns of fertility (global and national), forecasting fertility and setting assumptions, Projecting future fertility
• Theoretical Perspectives on Mortality: Trends and Patterns of Mortality, Forecasting Mortality and setting assumptions, Comparison of Various Life Tables for Projection, Projecting Future Mortality
• Theoretical perspectives of internal and international migration: trends and patterns of internal and international migration, forecasting migration and setting assumptions; importance of including migration in projections and risk of excluding migration in projection, Projecting Future Migration
• Projection methodology: Cohort component methods, alternative methods, time series, microsimulation, multi-state cohort component projections, Uncertainty, Scenario, Probabilistic projection, choosing a population projection
• Projection Outcomes: Total Population Size, Projection by Age-Sex, Projection of Urban and Rural Population, Projection of Labour Force, Regional/District Level Projection, Accuracy of projection.
• Population projection through microsimulation
• DemProj—A computer program for making population projection

Course Credit: 2

• The Proposal-Readers, Expectations and Functions: What is a proposal? Functions and purposes of the proposal-communication, contract, and plan. Basis of proposal: research questions or research problems. Types of proposal: Request for proposal (RFP), Informal proposal, Speculative proposal, Grant proposal, and Academic research proposal.
• General Framework for Developing Proposals: Overall framework, Hierarchy of concepts, Research areas and topics, General and specific research questions, Data collection questions, Research questions and data: the empirical criterion, Tactical issues: the importance of pre-empirical stage; questions before methods; and need of hypothesis in proposal
• Role of Theory and Dealing with the Literature: Perspective behind the research, Role of theory-descriptive versus explanation and theory verification versus theory generation, Pre-structured versus unfolding research, Literature and reviewing literature- relevant literature, relationship between study and literature
• Writing the Technical Proposal: Writing academic research proposal-Title page, Abstract, Table of contents, Introduction: area, topic and statement of purpose, Research questions: general and specific, Conceptual framework, theory and hypotheses, Review of literature, Methods, Sampling, Data collection instruments, Data collection procedures, Data analysis techniques, Significance, Grantt chart, Limitations and delimitations, Ethical issues: consent, access and participant’s protection, References, Appendices.
• Writing grant proposal for implementing programs to solve problems-Title page, Executive summary, Table of contents, Detailed explanation of the proposal: introduction to the situation, research and analysis, Goals and objectives of the project, solutions (descriptions of project activities), unique selling proposition (USP)/ innovativeness in proposing solutions, description of expected project results, project implementation plan, grantt chart, Background information about the organization and personnel, Logistics-budget, equipment, roles and responsibilities of human resource, Appendix

Course Credit: 2

After completion of the coursework, there will be an Internship for Three (03) months to different organizations, which is equivalent to Two (02) credit hours for the Internship report (including oral examination). The Internship will be conducted for partial fulfillment of the MSS program.

Objective of the Internship: The main objective of the internship program is to gather practical experience on various programs related to population issues such as population health, sexual and reproductive health and rights, women empowerment, sustainable development, migration and urbanization, poverty reduction and population ageing. It is expected that interns will gather practical experience in project management and implementation along with hands on experience from field work, if available. The intern will work full-time in line with the office working time of his/her assigned organization by the Department.

Course Credit: 4

There will be Four (04) credit hours for this course. Two (02) credits will be for the written comprehensive examination, and two (02) credits will be for the oral comprehensive examination.

Course Credit: 8

The top 40% of the students will be eligible for conducting Thesis. There will be eight (08) credit hours for Thesis. A total of 200 marks is allocated for Thesis, of which 150 marks will be for the examination of the written Thesis paper, and 50 marks will be for the oral examination on the written Thesis.