Citizens

Zika won’t stop Olympic games

Thursday, July 7, 2016 - 08:03

A debate is ongoing if Olympic Games should be cancelled, moved or delayed because of the Public Health Emergency of International Concern declared by WHO on 1st February 2016 on microcephaly in Brazil, which is being proven to be associated with Zika infection. On May 25th, 150 experts in bioethics, public health and social sciences signed an open letter to the WHO, asking to skip the Games, in order to avoid a further spread of the epidemic.

Target: 
Citizens, Decision Makers, Government and Public Health
Topic: 
Epidemiology, Prevention
Tags: 
zika, Risk perception, Risk management, WHO, transparency, Uncertainty

“Pandemic”: a misleading word

June 30, 2016

Albert Osterhaus, director of the Research Center for Emerging Infections and Zoonoses (RIZ) in Hannover, Germany, and Chairman of the European Working group on Influenza (ESW), is one of the top virologist in the world, who has discovered more than 50 new viruses over the last decades. In this short video he explains why the word “pandemic” can be a cause of misunderstanding between health authorities and the public, as it happened in 2009, when the new emerging flu virus A(H1N1) turned out to be milder than expected in the beginning.

Target: 
Citizens, Government and Public Health
Topic: 
Epidemiology
Tags: 
Video, pandemic, H1N1

Best practices on the phone: the MyPed app

Monday, June 13, 2016 - 09:27

An application aimed to help parents taking care of their children’s health. This is the idea behind MyPed, a mobile app developed by a group of physicians that won our Best practice award for general practitioners. The app, available for both Android and iOS smartphone, combines different tools that parents may use to manage their children’s health.

Target: 
Citizens, Healthcare Professionals, School and Education
Topic: 
Citizens' Mobilization, Prevention, Stakeholders, Treatment, Vaccination
Tags: 
best practice, Vaccine

Vaccine hesitancy

May 27, 2016

Susanna Esposito, professor of Paediatrics at the University of Milan, Italy and president of WAIDID (World Association for Infectious Diseases), thinks that families need more information about safety and efficacy of vaccines, in order to overcome their growing hesitancy towards them.

Communication is the key.

Target: 
Citizens, Healthcare Professionals
Topic: 
Stakeholders, Vaccination
Tags: 
Video, Vaccine hesitancy, Vaccine

Vaccines: a case history of false balance on TV

Monday, May 23, 2016 - 11:09

Until the end, it seemed it could sort out to be a happy-ending story, a demonstration of how new social networks, renown for spreading misinformation, can also correct it, when used properly. But the unfortunately predictable finale showed the opposite: counteracting false ideas about vaccines is not that easy. It will take time, a big deal of patience, communication skills and a good, coordinated strategy as well.

Target: 
Citizens, Decision Makers, Government and Public Health, Healthcare Professionals, Industry & Commerce, School and Education
Topic: 
Media, Social Media, Stakeholders, Vaccination
Tags: 
Vaccine, Vaccine hesitancy, Vaccine safety, Social media, false balance

Cooperation and engagement for a polio-free world

Friday, May 6, 2016 - 11:11

“We are so close to ending the polio” and “Still 15 years to a polio-free world” are not contradictory statements. They instead describe, with different degree of optimism, the current framework and the objective to be pursued in the fight against this disease. In other words, we are closer than ever to the target of a world free of polio, but much remains to be done to carry the world across the threshold. Polio eradication is the next issue public health authorities will be committed to in midterm future.

Target: 
Citizens, Decision Makers, Government and Public Health, Healthcare Professionals, Industry & Commerce, School and Education
Topic: 
Epidemiology, Media, Microbiology, Prevention, Stakeholders, Vaccination
Tags: 
polio, Vaccine, Vaccine safety, Surveillance, engagement, ECDC

Vaccination in pregnancy: safe and effective

April 26, 2016

As it was proved during 2009 A(H1N1) pandemic, vaccinating pregnant women against flu is usually safe and can protect both mother and children. Vaccination against whooping cough is recommended as well, while vaccines with live virus, such as nasal spray flu vaccine, measles and rubella, should not be used in these cases. Thomas Breuer, GSK Senior Vice president, Chief Medical Officer, Vaccines, tells ASSET about a new approach to protect babies against a dangerous infection such as SRV (syncytial respiratory virus), by immunising mothers during pregnancy with a vaccine which is currently under study at GSK.

Target: 
Citizens, Healthcare Professionals
Topic: 
Gender, Prevention, Vaccination
Tags: 
Vaccine, Vaccine safety, Pregnancy, Video

WHO launched an app against Zika

Tuesday, March 22, 2016 - 14:55

During the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) developed an application that allowed people to share information on the spread of the contagion, which proved to be very useful to monitor the situation. Now that the Zika virus outbreak is raising concerns, would it be possible to use a similar approach? Some weeks ago, the experts of the CDC argued that developing an app to track the spread of Zika virus would not be as effective as it was with Ebola.

Target: 
Citizens, Healthcare Professionals
Topic: 
Epidemiology
Tags: 
zika, WHO, CDC, Ebola

Music & Science: ASSET at the Verbier Festival

Saturday, July 30, 2016 - 15:00

The Verbier Festival, the most famous classical music international event in Switzerland, will host an ASSET event on July 30th 2016, a public workshop dedicated to Science and Music. Moreover, a "Conference&concert" open to the general public will be organized alternating talks about epidemics/infectious diseases and a piano concert by an international artist.

Read more
Type: 
General event
Target: 
Citizens
Topic: 
Local Activities
Tags: 
Event

European Immunization Week 2016

Sunday, April 24, 2016 (All day)

European Immunization Week (EIW) is celebrated across the WHO European Region every April. It aims to raise awareness of the importance of immunization for people’s health and well-being. Activities in 2016 will focus on the progress and challenges in the Region’s concerted effort to eliminate measles and rubella. EIW is going to be celebrate on 24-30 April 2016. 

Read more
Type: 
General event
Target: 
Citizens
Topic: 
Vaccination
Tags: 
Vaccine, WHO Europe, Event

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Health system analysis to support capacity development in response to the threat of pandemic influenza in Asia
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Dedicated surveillance network for surveillance and control of vaccine preventable diseases in the EU
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Transparent communication in Epidemics: Learning Lessons from experience, delivering effective Messages, providing Evidence