The UK Public Health Rapid Support Team, The Vaccine Centre, and The Global Health Network invite you to a webinar to share experiences and learnings from past vaccination campaigns during epidemics, as well as early lessons from the COVID-19 rollout in low and middle-income countries. We will discuss the barriers and enablers currently being experienced by vaccination teams as they roll out COVID-19 vaccines, and the development of local solutions.
To celebrate and share the various One Health work taking place on the continent, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) is hosting a 3-day virtual One Health Conference from 1-3 November 2021.
The conference aims to:
Share best practices and experiences from Member States and partners. Showcase continental One Health research focusing on zoonotic disease surveillance and outbreak investigations, antimicrobial resistance, food safety, environmental health, and operational research through scientific presentations. Highlight operational tools and guidance documents developed by African Union organs and technical partners like WHO, OIE and FAO. Exhibit opportunities for collaboration or One Health implementation support. Strengthen One Health advocacy and capacity across the AU Member States and Regional networks.
3rd and 4th August 2021 Time: 2:00 – 3:30pm (EAT) | 11:00 – 12:30 (BST)
Co-hosted by H.E. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Former President of Liberia and Dr John Nkengasong, Director of Africa CDC.
This webinar will discuss implementation of the PACT CHW initiative and share experiences, triumphs and challenges with implementing and scaling integrated community health systems towards the Universal Health coverage agenda.
Epidemic Ethics: Balancing COVID-19 with other priority health needs
19th July 2021 | 13.00 BST (London, UK)
How should we balance addressing COVID-19 with other priority health needs? We’re interested in exploring the following questions:
· What are other priority health needs and how has the pandemic impacted these? · How should we strike the balance between addressing COVID-19 and other health priorities, both (a) in public health/health care and (b) in research?
In the research and public health response to COVID-19, there has been a rush to share data, marked by an explosion of population- and discipline-specific registries. Data sharing platforms, which generally predate the COVID-19 pandemic, have been expanded to include different types of COVID-19-related data.
This webinar will present a comprehensive, living overview of COVID-19-related platforms and registries for sharing participant-level clinical-epidemiological, OMICs, and imaging data and review the interoperability of data sharing efforts and how these initiatives map to best practice for ethical, equitable, and effective data sharing and application of the FAIR Principles for managing data resources.
The tools and strategies used to manage public health emergency operations in laboratories and centres during ’peace time’ may need to be adjusted significantly in an emergency response situation. The capability to undertake such adjustments needs to be developed accordingly. This session will introduce and elaborate on some novel strategies to improve molecular diagnosis, including the co-primer technology and platform for real-time PCR diagnosis, as well as the suitcase lab for rapid detection and sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 in low resource settings.
Amongst other approaches, these tools are considered appropriate for Laboratory Systems Strengthening for the diagnosis of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases across Africa during the pandemic, especially now with the deployment of vaccine programmes throughout the continent.
In recent years significant resources have been put into Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) outbreak response capacity development at local, national, regional and global levels. However, thus far, there has been patchy translation or integration of the experience, skills and practice improvements from this into broader system strengthening. We recognise that areas with strong IPC structures and processes are better placed to prevent and limit the consequences of outbreaks using locally available resources, minimising the need for intensive and potentially disruptive responses.
This is the second event of a UK-PHRST discussion series on outbreak preparedness and response which aims to encourage reflection and shared learning, as well as creative discourse. It is an opportunity for all those working in Infection Prevention and Control in low and middle income countries to come together and discuss ways to synergise investment in short term outbreak response towards longer term quality improvement.
Join Dr. Tom Frieden and the Prevent Epidemics team of Resolve to Save Lives, an initiative of Vital Strategies, ahead of the Global Health Summit for a virtual event on May 20, 2021 at 9 AM EST to discuss lessons from past outbreaks, preparedness successes, and the need to invest and prioritize funding to fight the next pandemic.
The event will call on political and public health leaders to increase global collaboration and work together at the global, regional, country, and local levels to build a more resilient response to future health emergencies. We must not only fill the gaps in country preparedness, but also invest in systems to assess country preparedness levels, and more importantly, improve governance for current and future public health emergencies.
The National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit in Vaccines and Immunisation (NIHR HPRU) is a partnership between Public Health England (PHE) and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), in collaboration with the University of Cambridge. Our team aims to produce quality research that enhances the ability of PHE to use innovative techniques to protect the public’s health and minimise the health impact of emergencies, such as COVID-19.
We are hosting this event in order to share some of our timely research findings related to COVID-19 vaccination. The live event will feature presentations from some of our group’s researchers, including:
Evaluating societal risk/benefit – how would the value of vaccination be impacted among groups with various levels of adverse events? - Frank Sandmann
Role of risk and trust in COVID-19 vaccine decision making amongst UK health and social care workers - Sandra Mounier-Jack
Who could benefit most from COVID-19 vaccination? Using National Health Service (NHS) medical records to find out who is at highest risk of severe COVID-19 - Helen McDonald
An interactive panel discussion, based on a recent commentary published in BMJ Global Health. The session will include speed talks and short videos followed by a round table discussion. The session will focus on two case studies of embedding PhDs for African researchers at African universities within global health research and development programmes.
The aim of this session is to inspire participants to embed capacity development within global health research, building on the BMJ Global Health commentary. The webinar and will include funders, academics, PhD students and others interested in capacity development.
Women in Global Health (WGH) is a global movement with the largest network of women and allies working to challenge power and privilege for gender equity in health. It is a US 501(c)(3) started in 2015, WGH has grown to include over 25,000 supporters in 90 countries and has 23 official chapters, with a strong presence in low and middle-income countries. The global team and its network of chapters drive change by mobilizing a diverse group of emerging women health leaders, by advocating to existing global health leaders to commit to transform their own institutions, and by holding these leaders accountable.
A series of events are being held to launch the Women in Global Health UK.
In this symposium, speakers will show how past policy was developed and implemented, what worked and what did not, and what implications this might have for the response to COVID-19 and its ongoing effects.
The event consists of two half days of two sessions, tackling three papers in each session with a Q&A to close. The symposium will have two areas of focus:
The first centres on health, looking at the implementation of vaccination programmes in the past, and at how the history of other aspects of health and health services may determine the aftermath of COVID-19.
The second will examine the economic, social, and political impacts of past shocks, and also at how we can explain global differences in policy responses to COVID-19 by considering regional, national and local histories.
To mark World Immunisation Week 2021 from 24 to 30 April, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) Vaccine Centre is hosting a series of webinars. The theme this year is ‘Vaccines Bring Us Closer’. Each day of the week we focus on an important area of vaccine research, science and debate bringing together experts in the field. This event completes the week-long events series we have organized for World Immunisation Week 2021.
The Vaccine Centre are pleased to announce that Dr Rino Rappuoli from the GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Vaccines, an important global figure in vaccine research and development will be delivering the Vaccine Centre Annual Lecture 2021.
What does it mean to ‘co-produce’ research? What might a co-production research partnership look like in practice? What do we need to consider when co-producing research in humanitarian settings? This webinar features a panel discussion with practitioners and academics who have co-produced research. The webinar is part of the launch of our report, ‘The co-production of research between academics, NGOs and communities in humanitarian response: a practice guide’.
16th April 2021 | 08:00-09:00 Washington (GMT-4) // 13:00-14:00 London (GMT+1)
This webinar will provide an overview of the One Health concept and provide practical guidance on entry points for One Health approaches targeted to humanitarian sector operations for outbreak response. Tools and case studies will be presented to showcase how One Health approaches are advancing multi-sectoral coordination in community-based surveillance and risk communication, development and implementation of plans and response measures, and design and use of information management systems. A key goal of the webinar is to promote dialogue on how One Health strategies can be best leveraged to add value to existing humanitarian operations to improve readiness for health threats and emergencies at the human-animal-environment interface.
This event is hosted by the USAID Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance-supported READY initiative. Live interpretation will be provided in French for this event/La traduction en direct sera fournie en français.
15th April 2021 | 14:00-15:30 Central European Time
Join the next #LearningSavesLives webinar to explore with leading experts emerging approaches for medical education during the pandemic and beyond. Hear from country-level practitioners the challenges they face to maintain standards for medical and health professional education and training. Discuss how competencies of medical and health professionals can be assessed effectively during the pandemic and for the creation of a fit-for-purpose health workforce for the 21st century.
This is the first of a discussion series on outbreak preparedness and response to encourage sharing of experiences and reflections that further our understanding of how we can best support learning in these contexts. It will include presentations on educational programmes developed in response to disease outbreaks.
Speakers:
Briëtte du Toit, Infection Control African Network, South Africa
Maryirene Ibeto, UK Public Health Rapid Support Team, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK
Renata Bernardes David, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), Brazil
Each webinar will offer a focused discussion on topics relating to disease outbreaks preparedness and response. The topic of discussion for each session will be selected from suggestions shared by participants providing opportunity for those in attendance to shape the direction of this series.
This is an event open to all GOARN partners and members of the public with the aim to rethink of the role of communities in early disease detection, readiness, response and recovery during outbreaks of new and re-emerging infectious diseases. Drawing on experiences of COVID-19 and other disease control efforts, the event will signpost the vital role of trust, agency, social cohesion, plural forms of knowledge and resilience for inclusive, people and community centred approaches to readiness and response. Topics covered will include best practice for readiness community-based disease surveillance, transmission prevention, including contact tracing, and care provision in community settings. A key outcome will be to specify the evidence needs and research agenda to drive and better support community-led initiatives, programmes and responses.
The UK-PHRST research is designed to improve response to epidemics and epidemic-prone diseases, prevent and prepare for future epidemics, and better control current outbreaks. UK-PHRST research work may focus on operations (i.e. designed to improve effectiveness or efficiency of an intervention or activity) or be disease-specific, intended to increase understanding of the characteristics, driving factors, and effective mitigations of outbreak-prone diseases. The priority throughout is to produce outcomes that have a clear utility for outbreak response and/or relevance for outbreak-affected populations.
We are delighted to present four recent research projects:
1. Collaborative supervision of a healthcare worker study in Uganda
2. A COVID-19 seroprevalence study in a large refugee camp setting
3. Strengthening public mental health in response to the COVID-19 epidemic (SPACE)
4. Clinical trial of the vaccine for Ebola virus disease (Ad26.ZEBOV/MVA-BN-Filo) in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo
The COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented and has unveiled tangible differences in its outcomes in Europe and Asia. In this 3-day Nagasaki University (NU) and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) joint symposium in collaboration with the Medical Journalist Association of Japan, leading experts in infectious disease epidemiology, clinical research and laboratory sciences from Japan and the UK to discuss challenges and lessons learnt.
In this talk, Emma Hodcroft will discuss the realisation of 'real-time tracking' with SARS-CoV-2 and what genetic epidemiology has allowed them to uncover about the virus' spread. She will also discuss some of the challenges Nextstrain has faced in processing and displaying large amounts of real-time data with unprecedented public attention, and how the move from 'global' to 'local' focus, and the emergence of new variants, is presenting new challenges.
The development of accepted vaccines that are available on a global scale is a priority to end the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, there have been dramatic shifts in vaccine confidence around the world that threaten the success of approved COVID-19 vaccines as well as the likelihood of achieving herd immunity.
This webinar will discuss the current state of COVID-19 vaccine confidence, reasons for hesitancy, and will propose ways forward. The need for COVID-19 vaccines is global, although the need is differentially distributed within populations. High income countries must not monopolize the global supply and every effort must be made to provide vaccines at a price affordable to low- and middle-income countries. Understanding the complexities of establishing a regionally and globally fair vaccine-allocation system are essential.
Social scientists have a robust history of contributing to better understandings of and responses to disease outbreaks. The implementation of qualitative research in the context of infectious epidemics, however, continues to lag behind in the delivery, credibility and timeliness of findings when compared to other research designs. Cecilia Vindrola-Padros will discuss the importance of qualitative data to inform evidence-based public health responses and provide a way forward to global research teams who wish to implement similar rapid qualitative studies.
This webinar will introduce you to the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team (UK-PHRST) including its purpose, objectives, structure and triple remit. We will be joined by speakers from partner organisations such as DHSC, FCDO, WHO-GOARN and Nigeria CDC to hear their first-hand perspectives of working with the UK-PHRST.
The topic for the first session is "Define the Problem, Motivate Change: Introduction to Administrative Controls". Speakers: Professor Folasade Ogunshola, Chair, Infection Control Africa Network; Amy (E-beth) Barrera-Cancedda, Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Specialist, WHO; Dr Evelyne Ewesngula, Ministry of Health Kenya.
Emory Global Health Intstitue - Decolonizing Global health Series.
Decolonizing Global Health is a five-part series which focuses on global health, colonialism, and how to foster change in global health research, education, and practice. The second session, "The Role of Religion and Culture in Shaping Global Health," will feature Dr. Abdullahi An-Na'im, Charles Howard Candler Professor, Emory Law; Dr. Pushpa Parekh, Chair of African Diaspora and The World Program, Spelman College; and Dr. John Blevins, Associate Research Professor and Director, Interfaith Health Program, Rollins School of Public Health. The discussion will be moderated by Dr. Jeffrey P. Koplan, Vice President for Global Health at Emory University.
More than most other health interventions, vaccines provoke anxiety, perceptions of risk and rumours. Vaccines are regulated— and sometimes mandated— by government, resisted by those who feel their personal freedoms are imposed on. They are also produced by the pharmaceutical industry, which – even in their most generous and humanity-driven moments – aim to generate profit, provoking public concerns about their motives. All this, is the challenging context for a health intervention that has proven decades of success in saving millions of lives and preventing disease and disability.
Speaker: Heidi Larson, PhD, is Professor of Anthropology, Risk and Decision Science and Director of The Vaccine Confidence Project at LSHTM.
Digital proxies of human mobility and physical mixing have been used to monitor viral transmissibility and the effectiveness of social distancing interventions in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We developed a new framework that parameterises disease transmission models with age-specific digital mobility data. By fitting the model to case data in Hong Kong, we were able to accurately track the local effective reproduction number of COVID-19 in near real-time (i.e. no longer constrained by the delay of around 9 days between infection and reporting of cases) which is essential for quick assessment of the effectiveness of interventions on reducing transmissibility. Our findings showed that accurate nowcast and forecast of COVID-19 epidemics can be obtained by integrating valid digital proxies of physical mixing into conventional epidemic models.
About the speaker: Kathy Leung is a research assistant professor from the School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong. She's a member of HKU's COVID-19 response team since Jan 2020
This series will explore the requirements for instituting robust multisectoral coordination mechanisms. Attend all sessions and complete the quizzes to receive an e-certificate.
This workshop aims to engage the stakeholder community to focus on the benefits of a virtual biorepository (VBR) to provide equitable and efficient access to samples. A sustainable solution needs to provide benefits for sample contributors and users alike. We want to explore together what should be the benefits of participating in the VBR? What are some risks associated with the approach and mitigation strategies to consider?
The workshop will cover definitions and basic features of a VBR, our instrument for gathering information about desired benefits, and brief presentations by a panel of experts to address current barriers to access and solutions, followed by discussion.
Objectives:
1. Understand the virtual biorepository approach for access to well characterized specimens
2. Identify the benefits of participating in the Virtual Biorepository network
3. Consider current barriers to access and examples of working solutions
Centre for the Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases (CMMID) Annual Lecture: Years of preparedness and scientific progress have been harshly put to test in the most difficult health crisis of the last 100 years. Following the path of our experience in this first year, Vittoria will discuss pitfalls, challenges, and opportunities to improve modelling for outbreak response.
Since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, members of the Centre for the Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases (CMMID) at LSHTM have been using mathematical modelling to predict the spread of the novel coronavirus as well as estimate the impact of different control measures.
In this symposium, eight speakers will present on a diverse range of research questions addressed in the last 12 months, from evaluating the impact of school closures, and air travel restrictions, to monitoring changes in mobility and social contact patterns.
Safety. Misinformation. Roll-out. The exciting recent COVID-19 vaccine announcements from Pfizer/Biontech, Moderna, University of Oxford-AstraZeneca are great cause for optimism. But we are in unchartered territory. Never before have vaccines been developed at this speed, billions of doses need to be made and accepted, and the world faces an 'infodemic'.
This poses many questions. Now you have a chance to speak directly with the experts in London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine’s fifth live Q&A to put your questions about COVID-19 vaccines to Professor Mark Jit and Dr Pauline Paterson.
Chesmal Siriwardhana Memorial Lecture 3rd December 2020 |12:30 - 14:00 GMT
In this annual lecture from the Centre for Global Mental Health (CGMH) , Dr Fahmy Hanna, who is leading the World Health Organization's (WHO) mental health and psychosocial support response to the COVID-19 pandemic, will give a keynote lecture on the global response.There will be presentations from Dr Mohammed Abdulaziz from the Africa CDC, Addis Ababa and Giselle Dass from the University of Colombo and COMGAP-S, Sri Lanka, on the response in their regions, followed by a panel discussion exploring the factors that have facilitated and hindered the promotion of mental health.
During infectious disease outbreaks, and epidemics such as COVID-19, there is a moral imperative for ethically and scientifically rigorous clinical research. PANDORA, TESA and ALERRT present this workshop to inform participants about some of the ethical challenges in conducting this research. We will cover 5 broad topics:
• Ethics of research in vulnerable populations
• Community and stakeholder engagement
• Informed consent in epidemic research
• Biobanking during epidemics
• Ethics review during epidemics
The workshop will be broken down into these topics in two 4-hour sessions over the two days. Teaching will be a combination of presentations and Q&A discussions.
This seminar explores the history of catastrophe financing products and the contemporary history of international epidemic response to discern the roots of the Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility (PEF). Examining both the previous West African Ebola Virus Epidemic (2013-2016) as well other recent epidemics, Alexandre will demonstrate which assumptions of epidemic threat undergird the World Bank’s PEF structure and how it breaks from previous frameworks of pandemic threat appraisal such as the World Health Organization’s Public Health Emergency of International Concern designation.
Drawing upon the theories of Achille Mbembe, Jean Baudrillard and others this talk examines the roots of pandemic speculation and locates its role within the larger ecosystem of global infectious disease control.
Key audience includes those with an interest in health financing, health systems strengthening, and the history and sociology of epidemic disease control.
This workshop by the African coaLition for Epidemic Research, Response and Training (ALERRT), the East African Consortium for Clinical Research (EACCR) and The Global Health Network aims to equip you with knowledge and skills to conduct research during outbreaks and epidemics. It will cover areas such as navigating the ethical landscape for research in epidemics, rapidly developing proposals that can be adapted and implemented during epidemics, as well as areas of safety during data collections.
The current epidemic is notable for the vast traffic in official and unofficial information and claims. Sir David Spiegelhalter will assess the trustworthiness of the way authorities have talked about statistics and risks, focussing attention on the regular releases of cases and deaths. In particular, he will look at how background actuarial risk can be used to get a perspective on the risks facing us all.
This webinar organised by the WHO aims to advocate for, raise awareness of, and engage stakeholders across multiple sectors to develop and implement One Health and integrated vector control to prevent, control and eliminate neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Read the concept note here.
At the human-animal-environment interface, three main holistic and interdisciplinary concepts exist: One Health, EcoHealth and Planetary Health. To minimise the risk of future pandemics and mitigate their impact, we must reflect on the experiences of COVID-19 through the lens of different disciplines, while at the same time harnessing the powering of integrating different perspectives.
10th - 12th November 2020| 11:00am to 2:30pm CST | Free and open to all
The Taiwan Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP), in partnership with the South Asia Field Epidemiology and Technology Network (SAFETYNET), will host an online conference featuring presentations from countries in the Southeast Asia and Western Pacific regions highlighting COVID-19 response activities and the COVID-related studies of FETP trainees and recent graduates.
As part of the Let's Talk COVID-19 series sponsored by the UK-PHRST and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine's (LSHTM) Faculty of Public Health and Policy, this webinar will be led by the Historians from LSHTM’s Centre for History in Public Health.
Speakers:
Dr Alex Mold - Rethinking the relationship between the public and public health in the age of COVID-19
29th October 2020| 2:00 - 3:30pm West African Time (GMT+1)
Africa CDC have organised a webinar series on addressing the mental health aspects of COVID-19. The second webinar of the series will be on "Practical Mental Health Considerations for Healthcare Staff during COVID-19".
Speakers:
Dr Kerry Louw, Consultant Psychiatrist and Senior Lecturer, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Dr Adelard Kakunze Technical officer, Executive Office, Africa CDC
‘Don’t call me BAME?’ will be the first in a series of conversations focused on language and terminology in global health within the context of race and colonialism.
Speakers:
Dr Sheena Kalayil, Senior Language Tutor and Teaching Fellow at the University of Manchester.
Dr Addy Adelaine, Scholar-Activist with a PhD in International Social Work, founder and CEO of Ladders4Action, a non-profit organisation engaged in social justice and equality.
22nd October 2020| 14:00 - 15:30 West African Time (GMT+1)
Africa CDC have organised a webinar series on addressing the mental health aspects of COVID-19. The first webinar of the series will be on "COVID-19 and Mental-Health: Highlighting the Status Quo of Psychiatric and Neuropsychiatric Outcomes and Effective Prevention and Management".
Speakers:
Prof Soraya Seedat Head of the Department of Psychiatry, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Prof Oye Gureje Director, WHO Collaborating Centre for Research in Mental Health, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Dr Abdulaziz Mohammed Head of Division of Disease control and Prevention, Africa CDC, African Union Commission
UK-Med invites you to join them for a panel discussion with guest panellist Professor David Heymann. The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged healthcare systems around the world. In a time of already unprecedented humanitarian need, it has added another layer of complexity.
Featuring Emilio Hornsey (Infection Prevention and Control Nurse, UK-PHRST), the panel will discuss:
How have responders needed to adapt and what have they learnt?
Looking to the future, how can we ensure we meet the needs of people affected by outbreaks?
The Rift Valley fever virus: an update on pathogenesis, epidemiology, diagnostics and prevention.
9th October 2020 |19:00 - 20:30 (GMT+1)
The Sudanese medical expatriates to upgrade health services in Sudan (MARASI) welcome you to join their first webinar of their new series to shed light on the global situation of the Rift Valley fever epidemic and the importance of public health experts in combating the global Rift Valley protection, response, and control of this epidemic.
Join us for this virtual conversation where Professor Daniel Bausch (Director of the UK-PHRST) and other speakers will introduce the UK-PHRST and discuss how they have been responding to the COVID-19 pandemic both remotely and on the ground.
