The National Centre for Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (CNaPPS) of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS), that is the national institute of health in Italy, will be hosting a conference (Rome; October 2018, 8th) in collaboration with Save the Children and UNICEF-Italy on how breastfeeding and infant feeding can be protected, promoted and supported in case of humanitarian emergencies and natural catastrophes.
ASSET has been presenting at the international conference “Best practices in implementing the International Health Regulations (IHR)” that was held on June 7th and 8th, 2018 in Athens, Greece. This initiative has been promoted by several European Agencies (Directorate for Health and Food Safety – DG SANTE; Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency – CHAFEA; European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control – ECDC) as well as by the hosting Greek institutions.
Concerning the fields of cross-border health threats preparedness and response and IHR implementation, the specific conference objectives were to present: • an overview of the current European framework • the monitoring and evaluation framework adopted by WHO • experiences and challenges in achieving interoperability • the results of EU-funded projects • lessons to Greek and European public health authorities in revising national plans and improving operational procedures.
Digital storytelling is an art-based research method that involves the creation of a short video (3-5 minutes) integrating multimedia materials like photos, people’s voices, drawings, and music. It has a great potential to elucidate complex narratives in a compelling manner, increase participant engagement, and enhance the meaning of research findings.
The editorial entitled Dangerous words published on The Lancet starts stating that “Medicine is underpinned by both art and science. Art that relies upon strong therapeutic relationships with patients and populations. And science that brings statistical rigour to clinical and public health practice”. This statement introduces the decision of Trump administration to ban words like health equity, vulnerable, entitlement, diversity, transgender, fetus, evidence-based, and science-based from government documents for the US$7 billion budget discussions about the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Based on the collection of best practices on this platform, ASSET experts prepared a document outlining the guidelines of civil society involvement in public health projects.
There are a number of groups that are especially vulnerable in terms of susceptibility to influenza and barriers to accessing vaccinations. This may lead to larger problems in case of a pandemic; for example, in the H1N1 2009 outbreak in Australia, indigenous Australians, a hard to reach group, were overrepresented in rates of hospitalisation (Seale et al 2010). Hard to reach groups may have adverse health outcomes, and the complex interplay of gender and social and economic marginalisation makes this a particular issue for women (Davidson et al 2011).
We are going to face important challenges in public health and we need to improve the collaboration between scientists and policy-makers. Walter Ricciardi, President of the Italian National Institute of Health, explains why science-in-society is not just a slogan but a key perspective for citizens, scientists, healthcare workers and politicians.
