Date: Begins 12 October 2015 and lasts 3 weeks (participate via email)
Summary: Participatory epidemiology (PE) is an emerging field that is based on the use of participatory techniques for the harvesting of qualitative epidemiological information contained within community observations, existing veterinary knowledge, and traditional oral history. It relies on the widely accepted techniques of participatory rural appraisal, surveys, and qualitative epidemiology (Schwabe, 1984). Thus, direct observation and the use of qualitative enquiry to collect epidemiological intelligence from the community are at the foundation of modern epidemiology.
This PE discussion forum will aim to examine the past, present, and future applications of PE. The overall goal of this discussion will be to build on prior lessons learned and further advance PE by:
- characterising PE with the help of various examples of (un)successful implementation
- highlighting avenues for its inclusion in policy development
- indicating what future improvements can be made and how they may arise
- summarising all of the above in to a published report
If interested in participating in the PE discussion forum, please send an email to Ryan.Aguanno@fao.org
Each week during this period participants will receive a question to which they will be asked to respond by email, as well as to raise questions and concerns. On Wednesday of that week, a summary of everyone’s inputs will be released to help guide and stimulate discussion, at which point participants will again have the opportunity to comment.
This information will be compiled and analyzed in a final report. The organisers of the event hope that the conclusions of this report will contribute to better design of animal health projects and animal health delivery systems, more efficient disease surveillance and control strategies, and form new perspectives of PE.
Further details can be found on the FAO website: http://www.fao.org/ag/againfo/programmes/en/empres/news_081015b.html