IEA Blog

The XIth IEA-MENA Regional Scientific Meeting took place in Beirut, Lebanon, 21-23 February 2019, in association with the Lebanese Epidemiological Association.  Recent political changes in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have made recent meetings difficult, but despite these unfavorable conditions, a number of epidemiologist practitioners gathered for the program.

The meeting offered attendees a full schedule of workshops, poster presentations and break-out sessions. Each of the eleven break-outs sessions focused on one particular topic with up to seven specific presentations on that topic. A full brogram can be seen below.

Many thanks to the organizing committee co-chaired by Salim Adib, IEA-MENARegional Councilor, and Mary Deeb, LEA. Other organizing committee members included Ibrahim Bou-Orm, Rachel Btaiche, Rasha Hamra, Ghinwa El Hayek, Aziza Khalidi and John Fayyed (in memorium).

AFENET Early Career Epidemiologists find value in IEA

Early Career Epidemiologists attending the African Field Epidemiologists Network (AFENET) Scientific Conference seemed to value IEA. The conference was held in Maputo, Mozambique, during 12-16 November. Representing IEA at the conference were IEA President Henrique Barros, IEA Africa Regional Councilor Akindele O. Adebiyi and members Armand Nkwescheu and Samuel Akinbosede.

More than 65 epidemiologists stopped by the IEA booth during the first day of the conference, and by the conference end, 41 early career epidemiologists had joined IEA.  During the meeting, IEA President was also able to visit with the minister of public health.

The next meeting in Africa will be the IEA-Africa Regional Conference, 14-17 April, 2019 in Maputo, Mozambique. Pictures from the AFENET meeting are featured below.

IEA - Africa Region Announce 5th Annual Conference

Venue: Complexo Pedagógicco, Campo Universitário Principal • Av Julius Nyerere, 3453, Maputo, Mozambique                                 

Date:   April 14 -17, 2019 

The African Epidemiological Association in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, Mozambique and the International Epidemiological Association will be hosting the 5th IEA-Africa Region conference with the theme: “Epidemiology for sustainable development in Africa” Sub-themes: • Epidemiology, policy development and community health (including environmental Epidemiology)  • Disease surveillance and response • Epidemiological transition & NCDs  • Methods in epidemiology • Delivery science and implementation research Highlights:  • Up to 60 partial and full scholarship opportunities • Master classes in Portuguese and English language  • Pre-conference workshop • Early Career Epidemiologist session • Joint AFENET/IEA session on “Future of training and practice of epidemiology in Africa” • Innovative session on “Science of evidence/new horizon in epidemiology”  • Moderated E-poster sessions
 
Important deadlines: 

Abstract submission:  February 15, 2019 
Scholarship application: February 15, 2019 
Early bird registration:  March 01, 2019 
 
For details on submission of abstracts, registration and scholarship application for the conference, kindly visit afeaweb.org

 
IEA-Africa Regional Councillor Akindele O. Adebiyi, MBChB, FMCPH, PhD 

The Global Meeting of GOARN member institutions and networks was held at Centre International de Conférences Genève, Geneva Switzerland  on 5-7 December 2017 to discuss global priorities and challenges in epidemic alert and response, the strategic direction of GOARN, endorse important areas of work for operations and development, and contribute to concrete work plans and activities in the coming years. The meeting targeted decision makers and operation leads of partner agencies, and key stakeholders who can provide critical inputs and agree on participation in collaborative opportunities on behalf of their institution.

The Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network – also referred to as GOARN – is a global technical partnership, established in 2000 by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a key mechanism to engage the resources of technical agencies beyond the United Nations for rapid identification, confirmation and response to major international public health emergencies.

GOARN currently comprises over 400 technical institutions and networks (and their members) across the globe.  These Partners include medical and surveillance initiatives, regional technical networks, networks of laboratories, United Nations organisations (e.g. UNICEF, UNHCR), the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (ICRC, IFRC), international humanitarian non-governmental organisations (e.g. Médecins Sans Frontières, International Rescue Committee, Epicentre), and national public health organisations. All have the ability to pool their resources rapidly to assist affected countries requiring support.

Dr. Henrique Barros, President, IEA and Dr. Vinod Srivastava, WHO Liaison, participated in this meeting on behalf of IEA.

 

The meeting of the World Congress of Epidemiology was held in Saitama, Japan, which started on August 19th, and there was a Business Meeting on August 20^th, 18:00-20:00, JST.  Click on the links below for an agenda, and a draft minutes from the previous Business Meeting, held in 2014, in Anchorage, Alaska.  The Meeting was open to all IEA Members.

2017 Business Meeting Agenda

Minutes (draft) from 2014 Business Meeting

President’s Report 2014-2017

Incoming President’s Plan

Treasurer’s Summary Report 2014-2017

Congratulations to Professor George Davey Smith from the University of Bristol in the UK, who has been awarded the IEA’s Richard Doll Prize for 2017.

George was co-editor-in-chief of the International Epidemiology Journal from 2000 to 2016. With over 1200 peer-reviewed publications, George led important developments in life-course epidemiology, Mendelian randomisation and methodology, as well as contributing to many large-scale international collaborations. The Prize will be awarded at the IEA’s World Congress on Epidemiology in Saitama, Japan on 19-22 August, 2017.

The next IEA World Congress of Epidemiology will be held in Saitama, Japan on 19-22 August 2017. The venue is about 25 minutes away from Tokyo, by bullet train.

The conference theme is global, regional and local health and epidemiology in a changing world. The first call for abstracts is now open. Further information is available on the conference website http://wce2017.umin.jp/welcome/index.html

 

Earlier this year two electronic elections were held so that IEA members could select representatives for the IEA Council for the triennium 2017-2020 (to start in August 2017).

The first election was held on March 1-21 and a total of 598 members voted. The second election, just to select the President-Elect, was held on May 1-14 and a total of 714 members voted.

Congratulations are to Chandra Mani Pandey, elected as President-Elect, Sandra Sulsky, elected as Secretary, and Yosikazu Nakamura, elected Treasurer, and to the successful Regional Representatives.

The IEA also thanks all the candidates who put themselves forward to work for IEA.

The full list of elected candidates is as follows:

• President-Elect – Chandra Mani Pandey
• Secretary – Sandra Sulsky
• Treasurer – Yosikazu Nakamura
• Africa Region Representative – Akindele Adebiyi
• Eastern Mediterranean Region Representative – Salim Adib
• European Region Representative – Patricia Kearney
• Latin American & Caribbean Region Representative – Karina Braga Ribeiro
• North America Region Representative – Eduardo Franco
• South East Asia Regional Representative – Umesh Kapil
• Western Pacific Region Representative – Manami Inoue

Thanks also to members of the Nominating Committee, including Mauricio Barreto, Lianne Parkin and David Wegman.

With best wishes,

Valerie Beral
IEA President

 

The South East Asian Region of IEA held a workshop and training meeting on 10-15 April 2017 at Pokhara, Nepal, on the epidemiology of non-communicable diseases. The workshop and training meeting was attended by 86 scientists from Nepal, India, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. The Workshop focused on evidence based strategies for prevention and control mainly for cardiovascular diseases, but also for chronic kidney diseases, stroke, diabetes, cancer and mental health in South East Asian countries and globally.

The workshop was inaugurated by Dame Valerie Beral from the University of Oxford, and IEA. The keynote address was given by Dr. Jos Vandelaer, World Health Organization Representative to Nepal.  Both emphasized the key role of epidemiology in addressing non-communicable diseases in South East Asia.

Eminent faculty members provided training by presentations and taking practical epidemiological   exercises.  The presentations covered the concepts of risk, risk factors and risk assessment; study designs; the epidemiology of cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disorders, cancer, diabetes and metabolic diseases; tobacco, alcohol, diet, physical activity and obesity and disease surveillance, including cancer registration.

 

The Richard Doll Prize, to commemorate his contribution to epidemiology, is awarded by IEA every 3 years. The prize is for scientific achievements in epidemiology that have advanced understanding of conditions that are important for population health.

The deadline for nominations for the 2017 Prize is 21 April 2017. For further details please click Richard Doll Prize.