Project continues training programme for public health professionals

EU-funded Twinning Project “Strengthening the capacity of Serbia’s health sector for communicable disease surveillance” continues the implementation of the training programme targeted primarily at epidemiologists and microbiologists from the Balkan Region. The trainers come from the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), which is the implementing organization of the Twinning Project from the EU side. The training programme will consist of at least 5 modules, which will be executed between May 2024 and March 2025. The content of the modules derives from the training needs assessment, which was carried out in October-November 2023. The first two modules were successfully conducted in May 2024 for microbiologists and epidemiologists, and now the planning of module 3 is under way.

training module will be intended for public health epidemiologists and is called “Data collection and management in outbreak investigation”. The programme of the module will encompass such topics and questions as the elements and stages of the epidemic outbreak investigation, how and what information should be collected during an outbreak investigation; what tools are available for data collection, statistical analysis, management and visualization, etc. Epi Info software will serve the basis for the exercises. The programme of the module will be skills oriented.

The training will be from 30 October to 1 November 2024 and conducted at the Institute of Public Health of Serbia “Dr Milan Jovanovic Batut” in Belgrade. The training will be delivered in the English language.

The participants are requested to fill out and submit an online registration form before 24 October 2024. The participants of the training are expected to bring their laptops for the execution of practical tasks and exercises (at least 1 laptop per 2 participants). It is advisable to have Epi Info software installed prior to the training. Epi Info can be downloaded from the CDC (Centres for Disease Prevention andControl) website