Course in Outbreak Investigations and Research
Antwerp, Belgium
DURATION
3 Weeks
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline
EARLIEST START DATE
28 Apr 2025
TUITION FEES
EUR 730 *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* EEA / EUR 1,900 - non-EEA
Key Summary
Introduction
Today’s highly mobile, interdependent, and interconnected world provides unprecedented risk for the rapid spread of infectious diseases such as Ebola, arboviruses, cholera, multi-drug resistant salmonella. Recent outbreaks have led to an increased awareness of the impact of such outbreaks on global health (security). At the same time, outbreaks present unique opportunities for research to understand emergence and impact, as well as to test and evaluate the effectiveness of specific interventions to control current and future outbreaks, including prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and long-term impact. During the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the need for training on preparedness, outbreak investigation, outbreak research, and sustainable control became very clear.
This 3-week course is mainly for clinicians, health system and program managers, decision-makers, and researchers who are, or have been, involved in outbreak investigations and want to be able to identify and appraise research needs and opportunities and to develop and support research as part of the outbreak response.
The course aims to enhance the specific skills needed to design and implement multi- and interdisciplinary outbreak investigations with a particular focus on relevant research before, during, and after acute phases of outbreaks.
The course will integrate the expertise and points of view of an interdisciplinary ITM team involved in outbreak research, including clinicians, entomologists, epidemiologists, GIS specialists, health systems & health policy scientists, microbiologists, molecular biologists, and social scientists. A variety of case studies will be presented and discussed on different types of outbreaks. These will include a range of transmission routes (such as vector-borne, air-borne, food&water borne), rapid and slow outbreaks, rare and common diseases.
NOTE: The face-to-face teaching modality of this short course may change to an online format in case the COVID-19 epidemic situation does not allow international travel or when quarantine would be required.
Teaching & Learning Methods
Exchange of experience is essential in the learning process.
Teaching and learning methods consist of interactive lectures, group work on case studies, exercises to apply tools, lab demos, coached group work for the assignment, and presentations for the assignments. One session will be dedicated to introducing the course & the assignment and one session for the course evaluation and conclusions. Some sessions will require preparatory reading or self-study of common concepts and terminology. Links for further reading will also be provided.
Program Outcome
Upon completion of the course, participants should be able to:
- Design and explain a protocol to implement interdisciplinary outbreak investigation
- Identify risks and challenges in outbreak research and options to mitigate them
- Define clear research objectives, based on an analysis of the concrete problems and opportunities related to a specific outbreak
- Do landscaping of actors, including communities, local and national (health) authorities, as well as professionals, involved in a specific outbreak
- Apply appropriate (quantitative, qualitative, geographical) methods to describe an outbreak and analyze interventions
Curriculum
A set of interdisciplinary sessions will assist the students to gain new insights into outbreak investigation and research which can support outbreak control.
In the first part of the course, emphasis will be on introducing the different theoretical and operational concepts, using exercises to practice hands-on skills, such as
- 10 steps of outbreak investigation
- surveillance and early warning
- geographical information systems
- involving stakeholders, communities, health systems
- evaluation methods, data management
- ethics
In the second part, we will go more in-depth by unraveling research opportunities and discussing the challenges, the specificities, and the impact of investigations and research during outbreaks through disease-specific examples. We will discuss infectious disease outbreaks of rare pathogens (e.g. Ebola), often neglected outbreaks (e.g. cholera), nosocomial outbreaks (e.g. antimicrobial resistance-related), vector-borne disease outbreaks (e.g. chikungunya), as well as discuss Covid-19 related investigations and research. In all examples, we will focus on multi- and interdisciplinarity in outbreak investigation, control and research.
Admissions
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Program Admission Requirements
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