27th European Course in Tropical Epidemiology
August 25th - September 12th 2008
a three weeks course


      Organized by: Department of Tropical Hygiene
      and Public Health

      Heidelberg University - Germany

     [log in to unmask] Prof. Dr. Heiko Becher and
            Dr. Thomas Jänisch
            [log in to unmask] Natascha Petersen and
            Elke Braun van der Hoeven



ECTE 2008

The European Course in Tropical Epidemiology (ECTE) is a short course
organised by several European centres of Public Health and Tropical
Medicine. It is held annually at different European venues, including
London, Goteborg, Antwerp, and others (see list below). The lecturers and
facilitators for the course are lecturers of these centres of excellence for
research in the tropics and have extensive teaching and research experience.
This is an intensive course in basic epidemiology and is intended for
physicians, nurses, biologists, anthropologists, health programme managers
and other professionals with an interest in tropical countries. The course
provides participants with basic skills in the epidemiological assessment of
health problems and service priorities and in the planning of field studies.
Emphasis will be on the methodology and practical application of
epidemiological tools in developing countries, the interpretation of data
and on the reporting of field studies.


ECTE is currently organised by:

  a.. Department of Tropical Hygiene and Public Health, Heidelberg
University, Germany.
  b.. Swiss Tropical Institute, Basel, Switzerland.
  c.. Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UK
  d.. Centre for Tropical Diseases "Sacro Cuore - Don G. Calabria" Hospital,
Negrar, Verona, Italy.

  e.. Mario Negri Research Institute, Milano - S. Maria Imbaro, Italy.

  f.. London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK

  g.. Department of Public Health, Prince Leopold Institute for Tropical
Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium.

  h.. Nordic School of Public Health, Goteborg, Sweden.

ECTE will build knowledge and skills around basic epidemiology and medical
statistics and will utilize computer packages appropriate to these skills.


  PRE-REQUISITES
The course is appropriate for those without formal training in epidemiology
or statistics. However the course is intensive and applicants should have a
good command of English.


CERTIFICATE
A certificate of attendance is awarded to participants completing the
course.


LEARNING OBJECTIVES
The course provides participants with basic epidemiological and statistical
skills for the assessment of health problems, service delivery and planning
of field studies, and provides links to social science, economics and
computing skills which are often used in epidemiological studies. The
emphasis of the course is on the practical application of tools for use in
developing countries, the interpretation of data and reporting of
operational studies. A comprehensive course manual is provided at the
beginning of the course. The course will follow material found in the
recommended textbooks but these are not essential.

Recommended Reading:

  Essentials of medical statistics (2nd Edition) by B Kirkwood and J Sterne
(Blackwell);
  Concepts in Epidemiology by Bhopal R. (Oxford University Press)
  Epidemiology in Medicine by CH Hennekens and JE Buring (Little, Brown and
Co).


OUTLINE OF THE PROGRAMME
  a.. general Principles of Epidemiology

  b.. the role and context of Tropical Epidemiology

  c.. basic epidemiology of infectious diseases, focussing on those
occurring in the tropics

  d.. main types of epidemiological studies

  e.. risk estimation, high risk groups & risk factors

    a.. outbreak investigation and response

    b.. community epidemiology

    c.. qualitative approaches in epidemiology

    d.. evaluation of diagnostic tests

  f.. survey design, sampling, organization

  g.. questionnaire design

  h.. data entry, checking & processing

  i.. basic statistics using computers

The teaching includes lectures, groupwork, practical work and computer
exercises.
Maximum number of participants: 30.

Have a look at the draft Timetable.


 COURSE FEE
The course fee is 1 900 (EURO).
This fee includes: participation in the course, the course manual and
handouts, lunch on weekdays, refreshment at coffee breaks.
The fee does not include travel, accommodation or dinner.

ACCOMMODATION
Different types of accommodation at a reasonanble price are available within
Heidelberg. On request, a list of such accommodation possibilities will be
sent.



APPLICATIONS
Please send the completely filled application form

  1.. as MS-Word form by e-mail attachment
  2.. as signed hardcopy by mail
to:
Natascha Petersen
Department of Tropical Hygiene and Public Health
Im Neuenheimer Feld 324
D-69120 Heidelberg
Germany
phone +49 6221 565031

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Deadline for applications: 15th of June 2008