Page 20 - MemoriaESP-Eng

SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMMES

Communicable Disease Surveillance,

Prevention and Control

Programme The purpose of the programme is to develop collaborative and interdisciplinary re-
search in the field of communicable disease surveillance, prevention and control having
description
a large impact on the community, communicable diseases being understood as disea-
ses that are caused by specific infectious agents or their toxins and can be transmitted

from a human being, an animal or a non-living source to a susceptible human host.

The main lines of research of this programme are the following:

• Flu.

• Vaccine-preventable diseases having viral etiology (measles, rubella and mumps)

or bacterial etiology (whooping cough, pneumococcal disease, meningococcal di-
sease)

• Epidemic outbreaks

• Viral hepatitis.

• Tuberculosis-HIV. Influence of smoking.

• Communicable diseases and other health problems in immigrant population.

The strategic objectives of the present programme are the following:
Objectives

• To give special attention to diseases that require mandatory reporting, including

epidemic outbreaks, which sometimes cause serious public health crises.

• To generate scientific knowledge about these communicable diseases so that they
can be used as a means for supporting the actions performed by the Health Ad-

ministration. The effectiveness and efficiency of the interventions performed with 13
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a public health service perspective will also be evaluated.
T
R
• The research included in the programme will aim at controlling these diseases PO
and will endeavor to ensure that they can be used as a means for supporting the E
L R
actions performed by the Health Administration.
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