Infectious diseases, epidemiology, and social networks at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, NUS
It’s been almost a year since I abandoned my not so well established career as a molecular biologist to board the public health ship, so it’s finally time for me to wrap up the identity crisis. I know what I was before (a lab rat), but what am I now? Apparently I now belong to…
We’ve been tracking WHO’s prominence on twitter as a source of information on Zika virus and microcephaly. After a couple of weeks of relatively lower prominence, WHO was back at the centre last week, this time being the major source of retweets to dispel rumours that have been making the rounds regarding the possibility of…
This post comes from Dr Neisha Sundaram. Neisha is a cultural epidemiologist and Research Fellow at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health. Her research focuses on use of mixed methods to study vaccine acceptance. This Flavivirus is a current infectious disease and media favourite, with a lot being said about Zika in the…
We previously discussed the central role that WHO has played in disseminating information on zika virus through social media following its declaration of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on February 1st. It’s been interesting to follow the media coverage on the issue since then. The first thing to note is that there…
We have been asking colleagues to write posts on our blog giving different perspectives on the zika virus response. This post comes courtesy Dr Mishal Khan. Mishal is a Lecturer at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and an Assistant Professor at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health. Her research focuses…
There has been much interest in and varying opinion towards WHO’s recent declaration of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern related to the unexpected cluster of microcephaly and its suspected association with the explosive Zika virus epidemic in Latin America. But how does this play out in terms of WHO’s role as an authoritative agent…
The news headlines for the past few weeks have been flooded with Zika virus. Although Zika virus has been around since 1947, there haven’t been many human infections until the outbreak in 2007. Because not much is known about human infections, scientists are making discoveries on a daily basis due to the recent outbreaks in Latin…
Last week I was at the Institut Pasteur in Paris for the conference on Incidence, Severity and Impact of Influenza. The conference was organized by the Epidemiology Subgroup of the International Society for Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses (ISIRV). The subgroup’s remit, though still developing, is to coordinate activities around influenza epidemiology, and the conference…
Back in January 2015 I was asked to work on the Hawker Trade Network project. With all the ideas being created for me already, all I had to do was getting everything prepared for the field work. For this project, we want to understand the business relationship between hawkers and suppliers. We conducted surveys with…
I was privileged to attend the 46th Union World Conference on Lung Health from 2-6 December 2015. This is an annual conference that brings together researchers, policy makers, patients, activists, journalists, and representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), funding agencies, and industry from all over the world. They come together to exchange knowledge, share experience, and…