| Epiconcept

EpiConcept has begun a collaboration with the InED (National institute of demographic studies) to put in place a children's questionnaire system based on imagery for children not yet able to read. The pilot program will test the feasibility of using cartoon like characters with pre-recorded voices and other sounds to solicit choices about what the child might do in various scenarios. The graphics and sounds will be added to the current Voozanoo database system as a multimedia module.

EpiConcept is preparing its third “Into-Epi” epidemiology training course for spring and this time welcoming participants from 27 mediterranean region countries.  Co-sponsored by the European Center for Disease prevention and Control and the Mérieux foundation, the course will start on March 21st and terminate on April 4th. It will be held at the Mérieux foundation’s conference center in Veryier du Lac, France,  located on Lake Annecy in the foothills of the French Alps.

Research from the I-MOVE multi-centre flu vaccine effectiveness programme is now published on the  PLoS (Public Library of Science) website. EpiConcept's Marta Valenciano and Esther Kissling, the project coordinators, recently released the 2010/2011 flu season research results of this ECDC sponsored programme.

Research from the I-MOVE multi-centre flu vaccine effectiveness programme is now published on the  PLoS (Public Library of Science) website. EpiConcept's Marta Valenciano and Esther Kissling, the project coordinators, recently released the 2010/2011 flu season research results of this ECDC sponsored programme.

From the 14th to 20th of November, EpiConcept organized a training for the epidemiologists at the Hong Kong Centre for Health Protection. The objectives included the mastering of epidemic investigation principles and methods and the use of diverse software tools for surveillance, investigation, and applied research for infectious disease epidemics. In total, 20 people participated in this training led by Dr. Gilles Desvé and Dr.

As part of the continued work with the Equine Epidemiological Surveillance and Pathology network (RESPE), EpiConcept will put into place a pilot surveillance system. Due to be running by year's end, the pilot program will allow equine professionals in the lower Normandy region to enter information into their telephones and send it off via SMS to a central Voozanoo based information system.

In the context of a French National Institute of Cancer (InCA) call for proposal, EpiConcept will participate in the project of following 24000 women in the Ardennes region to study an alternative method for primary uterus cancer screening.

As part of the programme for reinforcing infectious diseases surveillance in the Indian Ocean countries, EpiConcept has developped a practical training program for epidemiologists in the five islands (Madagascar, Seychelles, Comoros, Mauritius, and Reunion). The two-year program started with a course in introductory epidemiological intervention organized in collaboration with, and taught at, the Mauritius Institute of Health.

The technical difficulties associated with diagnosing tuberculosis in the young are a major challenge to treating the disease and controlling its progression, especially in HIV-infected children. Can the methods and strategies for accurately diagnosing tuberculosis in HIV-infected children be optimized?

On the 8th and 9th of September two trainers from EpiConcept presented sessions in mobile IT systems for data acquisition at the Research Institute for development (IRD) in Montpellier France. Sessions covered software concepts, hardware choices, a panorama of currently available tools, and some hands-on use with one selected system. Curtis Broderick showed current collection methods on Android based tablets (see tablet in photo) while Dr. Gilles Desvé presented an iPad based solution.