Dengue fever collaboration

ByA/Prof. Bu-Sung Lee, francis

(TEIN & SingAREN)Ms. Helga Spitelar

(DANTE)

When did this all started ?

• Started at Maastricht, Netherlands in June 2013– How can we look at a specific topic that might

have a global interest ?– Dengue fever was suggested – TEIN took on the task to kick-off with a dengue

fever workshop

Post TNC 2013

• How do we reach out to the community ?• Techniques:– TEIN governors (to get NRENs support)– Global PR– Websites – International dengue fever projects – Chance meetings with clinicians

Result

All the different contact avenues were important. • Some speakers were contacted and

recommended by NREN representatives• Websites. Provide contact for “cold” call. Not

very successful.• Global_PR group was instrumental

Finding the right platform

• TEIN*CC and APAN have worked together over the years.

• Agreed to jointly hold a workshop:– APAN meeting in Bandung, Indoensia provided the

venue and local logistics.– TEIN*CC provided the funding support and

organizational support.

Technology

• Not all the presenters were on-site. • VC for remote participation (ideal opportunity to show how

NRENs can facilitate collaboration and exchange cost- and time-efficiently)

• We use both H.323 and skype to support the presentations.• Issues

– Some sites were not familiar with the use of H.323– Need to have a number of trial runs. – Coordination to mute was an issue.

• Might use Vidyo, used by the Telemedicine group in the future.

Bandung, Indonesia

Dengue Fever – let’s stop it(Medical WG session)

Organisers:Molly Yap (TEIN*CC)

Helga Spitaler (DANTE)Bu-Sung Lee, Francis(SingAREN)

20 Jan 2014

Joint APAN-TEIN*CC Dengue Fever Workshop

Objective:The workshop set out to provide a forum for participants to share experiences and best practices and to exchange ideas around how to manage, prevent and fight this infectious tropical disease.

Bandung, Indonesia

Time Program

1:00 pm Welcome

1:10 pm Part 1: Presentations

2:30 pm Part 2: Round-table discussion

3:20 pm Action items

3:30 – 4:00 Tea-Break

Bandung, Indonesia

Part 1: Presentations– “Managing Dengue cases”, Prof. Leo Yee Sin, Director, Institute of Infectious Diseases and

Epidemiology, Tan Tock Seng Hospital; Clinical Director, Communicable Disease Centre and Lead Principal Investigator, STOP Dengue TCR Flagship Programme (www.stopdengue.sg) (Remote presentation)

– “Dengue: Climate Change, Evolution and Transmission “ by Dr. Raul Destura, Director, Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at the UP National Institutes of Health, Philippines

– “Dengue Fever: Surveillance, forecasting and response in Pakistan” Dr.Saleem M. Rana, PhD Health Services Academy Cabinet Division, Government of Pakistan. Chak Shahzad, Islamabad

– “Correlates of a Dengue Specific Immune Response” by Dr Neelika Malavige, Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medical Sciences of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura (USJ), Sri Lanka (Remote presentation)

– “Dengue fever in family practice: Misconception and misinterpretation". Dr. A. B. M. Abdullah Dean, Faculty of Medicine, Professor of Medicine, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

– “Let’s get serious: STOP the ‘war’ on Dengue”, Prof. Sazaly Abu Bakar, Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine University of Malaya, Director WHO Collaborating Center for Arbovirus Reference and Research Tropical Infectious Diseases Research and Education Centre (TIDREC) (http://tidrec@um.edu.my)

Bandung, Indonesia

Part 2: Round-table– Dr.Saleem M. Rana, PhD Health Services Academy Cabinet Division, Government of Pakistan. Chak

Shahzad, Islamabad– Dr. Sonam Wangchuk Microbiologist/Chief Laboratory Officer, Public Health Laboratory Department of

Public Health Ministry of Health – Thimphu, Bhutan– Dr. Basu Dev Pandey, MD, PhD; Infectious Disease Specialist & Dengue Specialist, National Focal person

for Dengue; Medical Superintendent; Ministry of Health Ramechap Hospital, Nepal.– Dr Rose Nani Binti Mudin Public Health Physician, Head of Vector Borne Disease Sector, Disease Control

Division, Ministry of Health Malaysia– Prof. Leo Yee Sin, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Lead Principal Investigator, STOP Dengue TCR Flagship

Programme (www.stopdengue.sg) (Remote). – Dr. Raul Destura, Director, Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at the UP National Institutes

of Health, Philippines – Dr. A. B. M. Abdullah Dean, Faculty of Medicine, Professor of Medicine, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib

Medical University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. – Dr Neelika Malavige, Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medical Sciences of the University of Sri

Jayewardenepura (USJ), Sri Lanka (Remote).– Dr. Sheryl Maher, HE & Training Developer/Senior HE & Training Developer, OFFICE OF LEARNING AND

TEACHING, CHARLES DARWIN UNIVERSITY, Australia.(Remote) – Dr. Asma Abdul Latif, Assistant Professor, Lahore College for Women University, Pakistan– Dr. Nobuyuki Shimono, Director, Center for the study of Global Infection, Kyushu University Hospital,

Japan (Remote) – Prof. Sazaly Abu Bakar, Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine University of Malaya,

Director WHO Collaborating Center for Arbovirus Reference and Research Tropical Infectious Diseases Research and Education Centre (TIDREC) (http://tidrec@um.edu.my)

The Bandung workshop

• 5 clinicians/ researchers/public health officials from MY, BD, PK, PH in person, 4 from SG, JP, LK, AU remotely

• NREN reps also attended and provided insight into what research networks are and how NRENs can provide support

• Rep from APAN telemedicine working group also attended

The Bandung workshop • Dengue fever management & research has national

focus, but there is a need to collaborate internationally to stop its spread

• Follow up activities to focus on specific topics (dengue fever is multi-disciplinary) e.g. clinical case management

• Network requirements differ, generally limited bandwidth demands– Videconferencing / webconferencing – But also mathematic modelling to produce dengue fever

outbreak detection system

Bandung, Indonesia

Post-Dengue fever workshop

AARNet’s Annual Report: Featured Dengue Workshop from an Australian perspective

Following the Dengue Workshop in Bandung, AARNet contacted leading researchers in Australia to gain better understanding of networking needs

Rolling out the workshop model

Start regional, then go global!

What have we learned ?

• We get better understanding as to how research networking can help this ‘marginal’ user community collaborate better in tackling this global disease

• Scientific communities are usually not well aware of the network.

• Global_PR community can help reach a wider audience.

• Community-building • Global case study

Moving forward

• How to keep the momentum?• How can we maximize PR value of this

community building activities?• How can we apply the experience/lessons

learnt to other topics and when reaching out to other fairly unknown user communities?

Discussion

Discussion

• It affect us all. • PR value to a marginal community. PR to

create greater Awareness.• Other communities that can learn from this

experience. What are other areas ? Cultural. • Provide them with tools. Eg videoconference.• How do we engage and support them.