Public Health

Work-package 4 (WP4) operates in the field of Public Health. It is led by two Italian Institutes “Istituto Superiore di Sanità” (ISS), for Human Public Health, and “Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell’Abruzzo e del Molise” (IZSAM), for Veterinary Public Health. Specifically, activities of WP4 promote early detection and integrated risk assessment, respecting a One Health approach and involving, besides human and veterinary public health, the sectors of human and animal virology, entomology, and climate and environment. ISS is responsible for operational studies on integrated surveillance, and multisector risk assessment exercises, while IZSAM is responsible for training need assessments and following targeted epidemiological training.

Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS) (National Center for Global Health - GLOB) – Rome, Italy

Maria Grazia Dente, Silvia Declich, Key experts Alessia Milano, Claudia Robbiati, PhD students

With the support of  Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell’Abruzzo e del Molise (IZSAM) – Teramo, Italy Paolo Calistri, Daria Di Sabatino, Laura Amato (Epidemiology Unit) Barbara Alessandrini, Ombretta Pediconi (Training and Project Management)

Trainings:

• Workshop 1 Kick-Off Meeting, July 2019 - all sectors Multidisciplinary epidemiology training #1
• Workshop 2 Regional Meeting #1, January 2020 - all sectors Multidisciplinary & cross-border risk assessment exercise with a ToT approach
• Workshop 3 Regional Meeting #1, January 2020 - all sectors Multidisciplinary epidemiology training #2
• Workshop 4 Regional Meeting #2, tentative date: Summer 2020 - all sectors Multidisciplinary epidemiology training #3
• Workshop 5 Regional Meeting #3, tentative date: Spring 2021 - all sectors Multidisciplinary epidemiology training #4
 

Studies:

• Survey on indicators for surveillance and early warning of arbovirus infections collected by MediLabSecure countries January-September 2019 - all sectors - Identification of indicators that could be used for early warning and risk assessment
• Countries studies January 2020 - May 2021 - all sectors - Study visits aimed at assessing training needs for enhancing predictive and early warning capacity for arbovirus infections in selected countries of the network, - Description of the actual situtation in terms of data and information availability also towards predictive tools development
• Strategic Document January-November 2021 - all sectors - Develop a strategic document on potential indicators to support integrated surveillance, early warning and predictive tools, and recommendations on establishing a web-based system
 

One health networking:

Promote the intersectoral collaboration in all trainings and studies lead by the Work package involving, in addition to public health epidemiologists and veterinary services epidemiologists, human and animal virologists, medical entomologists and modellers to operationalize the One Health approach and its added value

Deliverables:

• Identification of potential indicators of outbreak risk
• In-country situation analysis Studies  (regarding surveillance systems, data availability and training needs)
• Multisectorial Risk Assessment exercise (MRA)
• Training module on multidisciplinary epidemiology
• Strategic document on early warning and predictive approaches for arbovirus infections in the Region