Government and Public Health

Oil, cats and social networks: lessons for health authorities

Friday, January 15, 2016 - 13:12

Institutions, public agencies and authorities can tackle different kinds of crisis by using social media. In the last few months, this has been done successfully in very diverse cases, both defending the reputation of a big oil company from a journalistic inquiry, and managing the response to a terror attack within a city. Even if the type and range of crisis is hugely different, the efficacy of a prompt and wise use of social network gives clues that could be useful when dealing with infectious threats as well.

Target: 
Citizens, Government and Public Health
Topic: 
Citizens' Mobilization, Media, Social Media
Tags: 
Social media, Crisis management

Intensive Care Units are a canary in a coal mine

Wednesday, January 13, 2016 - 17:54
H1N1 Influenza Virus Particles

During the 2009 A(H1N1) pandemic, the issue of how many deaths were associated to the emerging virus was one of the main causes of misunderstanding between authorities and the general public, which ended in a worrying lack of trust. The pandemic, initially presented as a potential serious threat, in the end was no more severe than a common seasonal flu. Unfortunately, even nowadays, it is difficult to ascertain if and how much H1N1 pandemic was different from any other seasonal flu, based on official data.

Target: 
Decision Makers, Government and Public Health
Topic: 
Epidemiology, Microbiology, Prevention
Tags: 
H1N1, flu, influenza, Surveillance

Raising awareness on gender issues in epidemics and pandemics

Friday, December 18, 2015 - 18:56

The consideration of sex and gender are not the most obvious issues that come to mind when discussing epidemics and pandemics. However, sex and gender have an important impact on these issues, since barriers to pandemic preparedness and risk behaviour can often be better understood when viewed from a sex and gender perspective.

Both gender and sex have an impact on experiences and behaviours relating to pandemics, epidemics and vaccination. The difference between sex and gender can be confusing, and the two words are often incorrectly used interchangeably.

Target: 
Citizens, Decision Makers, Government and Public Health, Healthcare Professionals, School and Education
Topic: 
Citizens' Mobilization, Gender, Human Rights, Policy, Stakeholders, Vaccination
Tags: 
gender issues, Preparedness, awareness, Risk perception

Seth Berkley, CEO of the GAVI Alliance

December 14, 2015

Created in 2000, GAVI is an international organisation - a global Vaccine Alliance, bringing together public and private sectors with the shared goal of creating equal access to new and underused vaccines for children living in the world’s poorest countries. According to Seth Berkley, CEO of the GAVI Alliance, such an experience can be relevant also in preparedness and response to emerging infectious threats.

Target: 
Government and Public Health
Topic: 
Vaccination
Tags: 
Preparedness, Vaccine, Video

We are ineffective in communicating about vaccines

Friday, November 13, 2015 - 10:12

Rhett Krawit is a Californian 7-year-old kid. He survived leukaemia after a fight lasted three-and-half years that left his immune system highly compromised. He wants to go to school and he has any right to do so, but he cannot do it safely. Rhett cannot be vaccinated because his immune system is still rebuilding and the presence of unvaccinated children exposes him to diseases like measles and chicken pox, which could be lethal for him. An actual risk, since in almost one fourth of Californian schools the herd immunity has been lost because of vaccine hesitancy and refusal.

Target: 
Citizens, Decision Makers, Government and Public Health, Healthcare Professionals
Topic: 
Human Rights, Media, Prevention, Vaccination
Tags: 
Vaccine, Vaccine hesitancy, communication

High-level meeting on refugee and migrant health

Monday, November 23, 2015 (All day)

Ministers and senior representatives of Member States in the European Region will meet to discuss the numerous public health challenges posed by large-scale movements of refugees and migrants to transit and destination countries. These range from management of communicable and noncommunicable diseases to the impact of large-scale migration on health systems. Given the inter-regional relevance of this topic, ministers from the main countries of origin and of transit of refugees and migrants – in the Eastern Mediterranean and African regions – are also invited.

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Type: 
General event
Target: 
Decision Makers, Government and Public Health
Topic: 
Epidemiology, Human Rights, Policy
Tags: 
migrants, refugees, WHO

World Antibiotic Awareness Week

Monday, November 16, 2015 (All day)

The first World Antibiotic Awareness Week (WAAW) will take place during 16–22 November 2015, with the slogan "Antibiotics: handle with care". 

Read more
Type: 
General event
Target: 
Government and Public Health
Topic: 
Treatment
Tags: 
antibiotic

Guidelines on science and health communication

The Social Issues Research Centre, The Royal Society, The Royal Institution of Great Britain. 2001. Guidelines on science and health communication.

Target: 
Citizens, Government and Public Health, Healthcare Professionals, School and Education
Topic: 
Media, Stakeholders
Tags: 
Royal Society, SIRC, Royal Instituion, media, communication

Science vs. fear: the Ebola quarantine debate as a case study that reveals how the public perceives risk

Monday, November 9, 2015 - 11:42

Gesser-Edelsburg A, Shir-Raz Y. 2017;20(5):611-63.

Target: 
Decision Makers, Government and Public Health, Healthcare Professionals
Topic: 
Media
Tags: 
Ebola, Risk perception

Final Symposium of the ECOM Project

Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - 13:00

Members of the ECOM project will gather for a final symposium on November 10th 2015 in Stockholm, prior to the European Scientific Conference on Applied Infectious Disease Epidemiology (ESCAIDE). ECOM – which stands for Effective Communication in Outbreak Management – is an EU funded project that aims to develop strategies for improving risk-communication during major pandemic outbreaks in Europe.

Read more
Type: 
General event
Target: 
Decision Makers, Government and Public Health, Healthcare Professionals
Topic: 
Policy, Stakeholders
Tags: 
H1N1, risk communication

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MMLAP and other EU Projects

AsiaFluCap
Health system analysis to support capacity development in response to the threat of pandemic influenza in Asia
BEWATER
Making society an active participant in water adaptation to global change
CASI
Public Participation in Developing a Common Framework for Assessment and Management of Sustainable Innovation
CIMULACT
Engaging all of Europe in shaping a desirable and sustainable future
DARWIN
Expect the unexpected and know how to respond
DRIVER
Driving innovation in crisis management for European resilience
ECOM
Effective communication in outbreak management: development of an evidence-based tool for Europe
EDEN
Solutions to improve CBRNe resilience
EPISOUTH
Network for Communicable Disease Control in Southern Europe and Mediterranean Countries
EPIWORK
Developing the framework for an epidemic forecast infrastructure
EUPHARE
Strengthening of the national surveillance system for communicable diseases
EUROHEP
Surveillance of vaccine preventable hepatitis
EuroMOMO
European monitoring of excess mortality for public health action
EURONHID
European network for highly infectious disease
EUVAC.NET
Dedicated surveillance network for surveillance and control of vaccine preventable diseases in the EU
FLUMODCONT
Modelling the spread of pandemic influenza and strategies for its containment and mitigation
FLURESP
Cost-effectiveness assessment of european influenza human pandemic alert and response strategies
GAP2
Bridging the gap between science, stakeholders and policy makers
HProImmune
Promotion of immunization for health professionals in Europe
INPROFOOD
Towards inclusive research programming for sustainable food innovations
JA-CHRODIS
Addressing chronic diseases and healthy ageing across the life cycle
M-Eco
Medical ecosystem – personalized event-based surveillance
MAPPING
Studying the many and varied economic, social, legal and ethical aspects of the recent developments on the Internet, and their consequences for the individual and society at large
MARINA
Get involved in the responsible marine research and innovation
PACITA
Knowledge-based policy-making on issues involving science, technology and innovation, mainly based upon the practices in Parliamentary Technology Assessment
PANDEM
Assessment of the current pandemic preparedness and response tools, systems and practice at national, EU and global level in priority areas
PE2020
Analysis of innovative public engagement tools and instruments for dynamic governance in the field of Science in Society
PERARES
Public Engagement with Research And Research Engagement with Society
PHEME
Computing Veracity – the Fourth Challenge of Big Data
PREPARE
Providing infrastructure, co-ordination and integration of existing clinical research networks on epidemics and pandemics
PROMOVAX
Promote vaccinations among migrant population in Europe
R&DIALOGUE
Creating mechanisms for effectively tackling the scientific and technology related challenges faced by society
RESPIRE
Improve the quality of indoor air, keeping it free from radon
SATORI
Improving respect of ethics principles and laws in research and innovation, in line with the evolution of technologies and societal concerns
SECURING CITIES AGAINST GLOBAL PANDEMICS
Investigating how cities in the West securitise against global pandemics
SEiSMiC
Creating a structured dialogue and mutual learning with citizens and urban actors by setting up National Networks in 10 countries across Europe
SIS CATALYST
Identifying how children can be change agents in the Science and Society relationship
SYN-ENERGENE
Establishing an open dialogue between stakeholders concerning synthetic biology’s potential benefits and risks
TELLME
Transparent communication in Epidemics: Learning Lessons from experience, delivering effective Messages, providing Evidence