As part of their summer program in Public Health, the AISER is running a Summer Course in Applied Epidemiology. This one week course will run from July 21-27, 2007, and is designed to provide the knowledge and skills needed on a daily basis by anyone working in the health protection area.

The course is highly interactive and offers hands-on experience with practical public health problems. Days 1-2 will focus on surveillance, covering the design, set-up and evaluation of surveillance systems. This module will include practical exercises using EpiInfo software, geographic information systems, and the analysis of surveillance data. Days 2-4 cover the steps involved in the epidemiological and laboratory investigation of an outbreak in conflict zones (Abkhazia, Tshinvali Region, and Kosovo). Examples will include outbreaks caused by food and waterborne diseases, hospital-acquired infections, and vector borne disease. The final day of the course, cluster analysis, describes how to approach the investigation of clusters of unusual health events, such as cancers and birth defects, which may have an environmental cause.