IEA Blog

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.

The International Epidemiological Association (IEA) will provide partial support towards the course fees of the 30th Residential Summer Course in Epidemiology, on a competitive basis, for *1* *IEA member** from low or middle-income countries *(including new members). Those interested should write to eepe@eepe.org no later than *April 4, 2017*, attaching a copy of their CV and a short statement on why they would like to attend the course.

The course (*Florence, Italy, 19 June – 7 July 2017*) is intended for epidemiologists, statisticians, clinicians and public health practitioners with an interest in epidemiology. The course offers in the first two weeks five general modules on epidemiological study design and statistical analysis of epidemiological data, and in the third week seven special modules on topics of current relevance for health and advanced methodological issues. The course is taught in English by an international faculty and is held in residential form in the “Studium” centre on the hills of Florence.

Please visit the website www.eepe.org for further information.

Workshop and training on “Epidemiology of Non-Communicable Diseases” organised by SEA chapter of the International Epidemiological Association which will be held from 10-15^th April 2017 at Pokhara Grande Hotel, Pokhara, Nepal.

The theme of the conference is “Epidemiology of Non-Communicable Diseases”. The Workshop and Training will consist of presentations and hands on exercises on variety of issues.

This Workshop and Training will offer a wonderful opportunity to discuss important issues, sharing information and exchange ideas in the field of “Epidemiology of Non-Communicable Diseases”.

The Workshop and Training will cover important topics like epidemiology, burden and impact, determinants, role of health promotion, evidence based public health interventions, multi-sectoral actions, cancer registration and cancer control, surveillance, research priorities, monitoring, evaluation and measuring cost effectiveness of interventions in the field of Epidemiology of Non-Communicable Diseases. It will also cover National Non-Communicable Diseases Programms, roadmap and challenges for integration within different NCDs and addressing co-morbidity with communicable diseases.

Epidemiological skills are essential for every scientist in medical and affiliated fields. Modern epidemiology is not only concerned with the study of distribution and determinants of disease frequency in man but also helps in identifying risk factors of chronic diseases, evaluating treatment modalities and health services, it has given newer off-shoots eg. clinical epidemiology, cancer epidemiology, neuro-epidemiology, genetic epidemiology. So, all the specialties of medicine are welcome to participate in this Workshop and Training. Your active participation and contribution in various scientific sessions will make this event a real success.