Networking & Advocacy Activities 2018
12th Vaccine Congress, Budapest, Hungary
The 12th Vaccine Congress was organised by Elsevier from 16 to 19 September 2018 in Budapest, Hungary. The Vaccine Congress is complimentary to the journal Vaccine, a leading journal for scientists interested in vaccinology.
The Congress was attended by over 250 participants from academia, research institutions, ministries of health and industry. In addition to the plenary sessions, break-out and poster sessions, a workshop was organized on “Author/Reviewer/Grant writing”.
There was also an opportunity to meet the editors of the journal Vaccine for a speed review of draft papers.
Poster presentations:
- Razwiedani LL, Nkwinika VV, Dochez C, De Schryver A, Burnett RJ. Should South African healthcare workers be screened for immunity before hepatitis B vaccination? Evidence from Gauteng Province.
- Burnett RJ, Mmoledi G, Ngcobo NJ, Dochez C, Seheri LM, Mphahlele MJ. Vaccine refusal may play only a very minor role in sub-optimal vaccination coverage in a hospital-based study in Gauteng Province, South Africa.
Meeting of the Vaccine Safety Net, Veyrier-du-Lac, France
The Meeting of the Vaccine Safety Net (VSN) was organised in Veyrier-du-Lac, France, from 4 to 5 June 2018. In view of the anticipated WHO accreditation of the NESI website, NESI was invited to remotely attend the Meeting through WebEx.
The objectives of the meeting included:
- Review strategies to address internet users’ information needs to enhance websites’ content, structure and features;
- Discuss vaccine safety information and communication on social media;
- Discuss how and when to address controversies and vaccine hesitancy in the digital sphere;
- Think outside the box and have a cutting-edge dialogue for new ideas to build and sustain confidence in vaccines using the web.
The meeting was attended by VSN members, VSN advisory group, VSN web analytics team, partners and stakeholders, WHO and VSN secretariat. Around 90 participants attended the meeting, including those that connected remotely.
Participants shared their experiences, challenges and best practices for improving vaccine safety information and communication on websites and social media.
6th Padjadjaran International Nursing Conference, Bandung, Indonesia
The theme of the conference was “The role of nursing in advancing quality of care through application of conceptual models in areas of nursing practices and health practice”. The conference format included plenary sessions, workshops, and concurrent oral presentations and poster sessions, presenting a total of 205 research articles. Conference participants came from: USA, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, England, Japan, Oman, Belgium and Indonesia.
NESI was invited by the Dean of the Faculty of Nursing to attend the conference and to jointly present the results of the NESI-UNPAD study: Mediani HS, Beels D, Mathieu T, Feenstra E, Dochez C. Evaluation of the immunisation education in nursing and midwifery training institutions in Indonesia – recommendations for strengthening.
Strategic Advisory Group of Experts meetings, Geneva, Switzerland
6th SOMIPEV Symposium, Marrakech, Morocco
The symposium addressed the following topics: antibiotic treatment; osteo-articular infections; vaccinology; nutrition; travel vaccines for children; and update on meningitis and antibiotic resistance in Morocco.
The majority of participants were from Morocco, but SOMIPEV also aims to strengthen South-South collaboration. As such, delegates from Algeria, Djibouti, Gabon, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and Tunisia also attended the symposium.