News - archive
07.05.2015 – International Joint Meeting EuroMISE 2015
will be held between 16–18 June 2015 in Prague, Czech Republic under the auspices of Charles University in Prague, First Faculty of Medicine.
Programme of the Meeting:
- Information-based prevention in healthcare (Symposium, 16 June 2015)
- Big data challenges for personalised medicine (Conference, 17 June 2015)
- Big data – analysis and modelling challenges (Course, 16 June 2015)
- Introduction to technology acceptance (Course, 18 June 2015).
31.07.2014 – CEJPH was awarded its first impact factor
Central European Journal of Public Health published by the National Institute of Public Health was awarded its first impact factor of 0.798 for 2013.
14.07.2014 – Editorial announcement – call for contributions
Non-communicable (cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, endocrine, metabolic, mental, etc.) diseases often have a common denominator, insufficient physical activity. Therefore, we decided to dedicate one issue of CEJPH to the multiple aspects of physical activity.
We invite authors to present the results of their research (in particular applied research) in the field of physical activity from a clinical, socio-demographic, or economic perspective in this special issue. Closing date for submission of contributions is 15 November 2014.
14.07.2014 – The implementing document Health 2020 adopted by the Government of the Czech Republic
In January 2014, the Government of the Czech Republic adopted the policy framework for public health promotion in the Czech Republic Health 2020 – National strategies for health protection and promotion and disease prevention. This document is derived from the health policy framework Health 2020: the European policy for health and well-being, adopted by the WHO Regional Committee for Europe in September 2012 to be implemented at the level of national governments. The background materials for the Czech national policy were prepared by Vladimír Valenta, the Chief Public Health Officer of the Czech Republic, his team, and a group of specialists in preventive medicine, public health, and social medicine. The major goal of the policy to be reached by 2020 is to improve health of the Czech population and to raise awareness of the general public, communities, companies, and other social segments on health promotion and disease prevention. Among the policy priorities are the promotion of physical activity and healthy eating, population health education, reducing health risk behaviours and health inequalities, and improving secondary prevention, including access to screening programs. In line with the above mentioned priorities, the Central European Journal of Public Health is planning a special issue dedicated to physical activity in 2015 – see the call for contributions above.
05.06.2013 – Sixty-sixth World Health Assembly closes with concern over new global health threat
After seven days of intense discussions, on 27 May 2013 the 66th World Health Assembly concluded with agreement on a range of new public health measures and recommendations aimed at securing greater health benefits for all people, everywhere. In all, 24 resolutions and 5 decisions were adopted by the nearly 2000 delegates representing the World Health Organization’s Member States.
30.05.2012 – World No Tobacco Day: STOP TOBACCO INDUSTRY INTERFERENCE
On World No Tobacco Day (31 May), the World Health Organization (WHO) is calling on national leaders to be extra vigilant against the increasingly aggressive attacks by the industry which undermine policies that protect people from the harms of tobacco. Tobacco kills almost 6 million people every year and is one of the leading preventable causes of illness and death around the world.
On World No Tobacco Day, WHO is releasing a technical resource paper and global brief based on 2008 guidelines for implementation of this Article of the treaty to help guide countries on ways to combat tobacco industry interference. The paper covers a range of issues including:
- maneuvering to hijack the political and legislative process
- exaggerating the economic importance of the tobacco industry
- manipulating public opinion to gain the appearance of respectability
- fabricating support through front groups
- discrediting proven science
- intimidating governments with litigation or the threat of litigation.
For more information please download a Tobacco Free Initiative document, WHO Press Release or visit: http://www.who.int/tobacco/wntd/2012/en/index.html
Examples of how countries combat tobacco industry interference: http://www.who.int/fctc/parties_experiences/en/index.html
05.05.2012 – WHO Hand Hygiene Day
Every 5 May, WHO SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands global campaign aims to maintain a global profile on the importance of hand hygiene in health care to reduce health care-associated infections. These infections affect hundreds of millions of patients around the world every year. WHO SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands was launched in 2009 and to date has gathered registrations from 15 000 health-care facilities from the majority of WHO Member States, demonstrating commitment to improving patient safety through clean hands. WHO's specific Call to Action for 5 May 2012 is for health-care facilities to prepare action plans for hand hygiene improvement and involve all staff and health-care facility leaders.
Read More on SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands - 5 may 2012; WHO Press Release.
01.12.2011 – Fellowship programme encouraging HIV and drug use research
The IAS-NIDA fellowship programme was established by the International AIDS Society (IAS) with the support of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The goal of this fellowship programme is to contribute to advances in the scientific understanding of drug use and HIV while fostering multinational research.
This fellowship programme consists of two types of awards for training: US$75,000 to be awarded to a junior scientist for 18-months post-doctoral training and US$75,000 to be awarded to a well-established HIV researcher for eight-month long professional development training. Applications from a wide range of disciplines including social, behavioral, political, clinical, biomedical, mathematical sciences or others will be accepted.
2012, up to four fellows will be selected and will be invited with their mentors to the XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012), in Washington D.C. 22–27 July 2012. The fellowships will be officially awarded at the conference, and there will be additional activities planned for fellows at the conference. Applications for 2012 will be open from December 8, 2011 to February 10, 2012 as described on the fellowship programme webpage.
24.11.2011 – Journal CEJPH now accessible via portal EZB
The National Medical Library, Prague, has included the CEJPH journal into the international e-journal portal Elektronische Zeitschriftsbibliothek (EZB), managed by the University Library of Regensburg. The EZB service offers access to full-text articles either by direct link to particular journal websites or via scientific information databases. E-journals from Europe and around the world, accessing in a unified user interface, are therefore available at twenty-five Czech medical and other scientific libraries. On the other hand, the CEJPH website becomes accessible from any online catalogue of all 565, mostly European, participating libraries.
28.09.2011 – Global Ecological Integrity Group (GEIG) 19th annual conference – public health dimensions
The Global Ecological Integrity Group (GEIG) held its 19th annual conference at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, July 11–16, 2011. The topic "Human Rights and Duties: Supporting Biological Integrity for Public Health" has been one of the major themes. ›› more
18.07.2011 – CEJPH in the Web of Science and Current Contents databases
Central European Journal of Public Health has been selected for coverage in Thomson Reuters products Current Contents/Clinical Medicine, Current Contents/Social and Behavioral Sciences, Science Citation Index Expanded and Social Science Citation Index. Coverage in these products begins with Vol. 19, 2011. More in the Thomson Reuters Master Journal List.
24.05.2011 – Sixty-fourth World Health Assembly closes
after passing multiple resolutions and decisions, including pandemic influenza preparedness framework. More detailed background information and a comment on the implications of this achievement has been published by Eurosurveillance editorial team and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
11.04.2011 – Themed issue on tobacco control – call for submissions: Editorial announcement (updated)
The negative consequences of tobacco use reached enormous proportions. WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control stresses the importance of research in this field and need of dissemination of its results as a priority. Editorial office responds to the need for evidence-based knowledge and current scientific understanding of the negative impact of tobacco use on individuals and society as a whole. Therefore, we decided to dedicate one issue of CEJPH to this topic. We invite authors to present the results of their research in the field of epidemiology of tobacco use and its negative impact on health, socio-economic aspects, prevention, etc. in this special issue of CEJPH. Closing date for submission of contributions is shifted on 15 October 2011. More information: Announcement; Recent articles on tobacco control in CEJPH; *NEW* Drafts submitted (review in progress).
17.12.2010 – Know, treat, prevent – HIV testing, a key strategy in the prevention and control of the HIV/AIDS epidemic
Nearly 30 years ago, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) emerged as a new infection/disease and have since been a major concern for public health worldwide due to its associated morbidity and mortality. Considerable research and efforts have been undertaken to find and implement the best ways to prevent the spread of HIV and cure the disease AIDS. While there is still no effective vaccine, prevention programmes targeted at reducing risky behaviours have helped prevent the feared explosion of the epidemic in European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA) countries. In addition, development of new antiretroviral drugs and early treatment of newly detected cases have contributed considerably to the reduction in associated morbidity and mortality since the mid-1990s. Still, there is no effective cure yet and while antiretroviral treatment is improving quality of life, there are concerns about the increasing number of HIV infections in certain groups, for example, among men who have sex with men (MSM) in several EU countries and the fact that the number of other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) is also increasing in this group.
A year ago, a report on HIV/AIDS in EU/EEA , published by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in 2009, presented that more than 4,500 newly diagnosed AIDS cases were recorded by 27 EU/EEA countries; in addition, nearly 26,000 diagnosed cases of HIV infection were reported by 28 such countries. AIDS is decreasing in almost all EU/EEA countries, except in some eastern European countries, and this trend reflects the wide availability of antiretroviral treatment and care.
The drivers of the HIV/AIDS epidemics are remarkably distinct between EU/EEA countries: while in many countries MSM are the most important risk group, in Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, injecting drug users are the main risk group. Knowledge about these drivers is of utmost importance in designing effective preventive strategies.
In 2009, the number of cases of HIV infection increased in 16 countries, while it decreased in only 12, when compared with 2004 data. These figures – together with the fact that an estimated 30% of infected persons are unaware of their HIV infection and may not take the necessary precautions (such as practicing safer sex) to prevent transmission to others – show why HIV/AIDS remains an important public health issue and will stay in the focus of ECDC's attention.
HIV testing, early diagnosis and access to treatment are key strategies for HIV/AIDS prevention.
Source: Sprenger M. Know, treat, prevent – HIV testing, a key strategy in the prevention and control of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Euro Surveill. 2010;15(48):pii=19736. Available online: http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=19736
10.05.2010 – The Death of Smallpox,
an Anniversary Exhibition, takes place in the Historical building of the National Museum, Prague, from 21st April 2010 to 17th October, 2010. ›› more
17.03.2010 – Third European Conference on Scientific Publishing in Biomedicine and Medicine
will be held on 27–29 May 2010 in the Leiden University Medical Center, the Netherlands. The principal aim of the European Conference on Scientific Publishing in Biomedicine and Medicine series is to broaden researchers' understanding and knowledge of the rapid changes in the scientific communication and publishing environment and its direct impact on the research community. ›› more
02.11.2009 – A Day to Focus and Act on Pneumonia
Every year, two million children die of pneumonia, the world's leading infectious child killer (1). The disease claims another young life every 15 seconds – more than measles, malaria and AIDS combined (2) – yet many clinicians, health workers and policy makers remain unaware of the scale of this preventable epidemic. The New York Times recently dubbed pneumonia the "orphan of global health".
The first World Pneumonia Day – launched by a coalition of child health organizations, including the Sabin Vaccine Institute's Pneumococcal Awareness Council of Experts (PACE) – to raise awareness of this public health crisis and spur urgent action to address it takes place on November 2nd. Pneumonia deaths in children are largely unnecessary and an example of a sizeable health inequity because more than 2,000 children in developing countries die for every one child that dies of the disease in an industrialized country (1). As such, it is critical that as doctors and scientists we lend our voices and networks to the fight.
While early diagnosis and treatment can save lives, vaccines are the single most effective way to prevent pneumonia. There are safe, effective vaccines against the common bacterial causes of pneumonia, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) and Pneumococcus. The routine use of these vaccines has had great success in preventing deaths in many countries. It is a tragedy that access to these life-saving vaccines remains an outcome determined by where a child is born, not whether a child needs it.
And the same is true for treatment: some 600,000 children's lives could be saved each year if all youngsters with pneumonia were properly diagnosed and treated with antibiotics costing less than US$1 per course (3, 4). More than double – an estimated 1.3 million lives – could be saved each year if both prevention and treatment interventions were implemented universally (1).
Affordable vaccines are available to developing countries through new mechanisms such as the pneumococcal Advanced Market Commitment (AMC) (see www.vaccineamc.org). The concept behind the AMC is simple: wealthy donors commit to buying the vaccines in bulk at a fixed price, thereby creating a potentially huge and profitable early market as an incentive to manufacturers. In turn, as part of these agreements, the manufacturers may agree to supply the vaccines to poor countries at a significant discount. In this way, these countries are able to receive the vaccines up to 20 years before historical precedent and at prices their governments can afford.
Controlling pneumonia is key to Millennium Development Goal #4, a pledge by the world's governments to reduce the under-five mortality rate by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015. To make progress, we must raise awareness of the scale of this disease among policy makers, the health community and the general public.
There is no reason this scourge must claim innocent lives forever. World Pneumonia Day affords us all an opportunity to join together to do what is right for the world's most vulnerable. Together, and through our professional organizations, practices and health agencies, we have the resources to end pneumonia's grim reign as the # 1 killer of the world's children.
To learn more, visit www.worldpneumoniaday.org or www.sabin.org/PACE.
REFERENCES
1. United Nations Children's Fund. Progress for children: a world fit for children statistical review [monograph on the Internet]. New York: UNICEF; 2007 [cited 2009 Sep 25]. Available from: http://www.unicef.org/publications/index_42117.html
2. United Nations Children's Fund. Pneumonia: the forgotten killer of children [monograph on the Internet]. New York: UNICEF; 2006 [cited 2009 Sep 25]. Available from: http://www.unicef.org/publications/index_35626.html
3. Bryce J, Black RE, Walker N, Bhutta ZA, Lawn JE, Steketee RW. Can the world afford to save the lives of 6 million children each year? Lancet. 2005 Jun 25-Jul 1;365(9478):2193-200.
4. Jones G, Steketee RW, Black RE, Bhutta ZA, Morris SS; Bellagio Child Survival Study Group. How many child deaths can we prevent this year? Lancet. 2003 Jul 5;362(9377):65-71.
On behalf of Pneumococcal Awareness Council of Experts (PACE)
Pavla Křížová
member of PACE
National Institute of Public Health, Prague, Czech Republic
20.08.2009 – Epidemiology of fatal cases associated with pandemic H1N1 influenza 2009
The elderly seem to be protected to a certain extent against H1N1 influenza. Pregnancy as well as diabetes, obesity, respiratory and/or heart disease have been found to be risk factors. ›› more
30.07.2009 – Oseltamivir adherence and side effects among children
in three London schools affected by influenza A(H1N1)v, may 2009 – an internet-based cross-sectional survey. The widespread use of oseltamivir prophylaxis for school contacts of confirmed cases of H1N1 influenza is being restricted due to gastrointestinal symptoms it causes in 40% of children and mild neuropsychiatric side effects in 18% of them. ›› more
06.07.2009 – Food standards commission targets dangerous bacteria and chemicals
Rome: The Codex Alimentarius Commission, (CAC) concluded a week-long meeting and adopted more than 30 new international standards, codes of practice and guidelines to improve worldwide food safety and protect the health of consumers. ›› more
16.06.2009 – Human biomonitoring and environmental health
A special issue of the Bulletin Epidémiologique Hebdomadaire (BEH) on the European Conference on Human Biomonitoring that was held in Paris on November 4–5, 2008 is available on the InVS website. ›› more
07.05.2009 – Joint FAO/WHO/OIE Statement on influenza A(H1N1) and the safety of pork
To avoid any misunderstanding FAO, WHO and OIE would like to reissue their joint statement originally issued on 30 April. In the ongoing spread of influenza A(H1N1), concerns about the possibility of this virus being found in pigs and the safety of pork and pork products have been raised. Influenza viruses are not known to be transmissible to people through eating processed pork or other food products derived from pigs. Heat treatments commonly used in cooking meat (e.g. 70°C/160°F core temperature) will readily inactivate any viruses potentially present in raw meat products. Pork and pork products, handled in accordance with good hygienic practices recommended by the WHO, Codex Alimentarius Commission and the OIE, will not be a source of infection. Authorities and consumers should ensure that meat from sick pigs or pigs found dead are not processed or used for human consumption under any circumstances. ›› more
02.07.2008 – The 2008 Supplement
devoted to the HPV in Human Pathology International Congress, Prague, Czech Republic, May 1–3, 2008 is available. ›› more
02.04.2007
Central European Journal of Public Health became one of the official journals of the Central and Eastern European Chapter of the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology (CEEC ISEE) ›› more