Teaching Experience

Workshop on basic epidemiology and laboratory diagnosis for outbreak investigations, Jakarta, Indonesia 12th-16th January, 2009

By Katie Greenland (EPIET Fellow Cohort 14, RIVM, NL), Harold Noël (EPIET Fellow Cohort 13, RIVM, NL), and Marc Rondy (EPIET Fellow Cohort 14, RIVM, NL)

Working on a case study during the workshop

The collaboration between the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) and the Indonesian National Institute of Health Research and Development (NIHRD) began in 2005 when the Dutch and Indonesian Ministries of Health and Agriculture decided to join hands in the combat of the ongoing outbreak of H5N1 influenza in poultry. Since then, further investigations have taken place into the transmission of H5N1 to humans, with particular focus on the detection of asymptomatic H5N1 infections among persons highly exposed to the avian H5N1 virus.

The current visit to Jakarta marked the culmination of the epidemiological part of the cooperation with the Indonesian institute. This trip coincided with visits from the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture and RIVM representatives to explore the possibilities for future collaboration between the countries and to strengthen the cooperation in the field of developing protein-based serological assays for detection of avian influenza in humans.

The RIVM delegation was a multidisciplinary team comprising epidemiology and laboratory experts. The objective of this meeting was to deliver a training course on epidemiological and microbiological aspects of outbreak investigations to NIHRD staff.

The workshop entitled 'Basic epidemiology and laboratory diagnosis for outbreak investigations' was held from Monday 12th to Friday 16th January 2009 at the NIHRD, Jakarta. The workshop was opened by Dr. Trihono, head of the NIHRD Centre for Biomedical and Pharmacological research and was attended by 22 employees of the NIHRD who were all laboratory staff, mainly virologists, with limited prior knowledge of epidemiological concepts. During the course of the week the participants received a combination of theoretical lectures and practical case studies which gave the opportunity to explore further the concepts introduced during the lectures.
All the lectures about epidemiology were provided by the Epiet fellows Katie Greenland, Harold Noel and Marc Rondy. They were also facilitating the case study on atypical pneumonia in Amsterdam. The lab-related as well as the case study on the Q-fever were facilitated by virologist from the RIVM.

The course received very positive feedback and participants and facilitators felt it was a productive week, despite flooding due to heavy rainfall in Jakarta and work commitments affecting attendance on some days. The course had a good structure and balance between epidemiology and laboratory topics. The majority of participants appreciated learning new concepts outside their immediate area of work.

The participants contributed actively to discussions throughout the week and there were interesting exchanges about the differences in approach between the Netherlands and Indonesia. The active participation of the Indonesian attendees was highly valued by facilitators and contributed to making it a pleasant learning and teaching environment for all.

The content of the course was suitable for the audience and would be relevant for future courses in similar situations. The course was aimed at epidemiologists and laboratory specialists. It would be useful to know the background and education of participants before the start of a future module for potential adaptation of the course content. A future workshop would aim to involve more Indonesian staff in the teaching and development of case studies and would leave more time for practice and questions after the lectures.

The workshop was another successful enterprise in the long term collaboration between the RIVM and the NIHRD. This would not have been possible without the support of our NIHRD colleagues, in particular Dr Vivi Setiawaty, who handled all the logistics in Jakarta and provided the RIVM team with a warm welcome and enjoyable experience.
Group celebratory meal to close the workshop