CHS Collaborates With Robert Koch Institute and Other European Institutions

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YEREVAN, Armenia — In September 2023, three researchers from the Avedisian Onanian Center for Health Services Research and Development of the Turpanjian College of Health Sciences (CHS) at the American University of Armenia (AUA) participated in two international meetings dedicated to the estimation methods of the burden of disease. Both meetings were conducted within the scope of a project titled “Capacities & Infrastructures for Health Policy Development — Strengthening Information Systems for Summary Measures of Population Health” or, in short, CATINCA. Health institutions in nine countries are involved in this project, coordinated and mentored by the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin. AUA joined the CATINCA project at the beginning of 2022.

The first meeting was held in Tallinn, Estonia, on September 14-15, 2023. This was the fourth Working Group Meeting of the COST Action CA18218 European Burden of Disease Network. Anahit Demirchyan, MD, (MPH ’99) made a poster presentation titled “Burden of Hepatitis B and C Virus Infections in Armenia: Methodological Challenges.” This poster was authored by an international team of researchers from Armenia (Anahit Demirchyan and Lusine Aslanyan (MPH ’18)), Germany (Aline Anton) and Poland (Katarzyna Kissimova-Skarbek). Eighty-five researchers from 26 European countries, the Republic of Korea, and the U.S. attended the meeting. 

The first day was dedicated to participant presentations of projects within their respective task forces addressing Social Inequalities, Air Pollution, Rare Diseases, and the COVID-19 Pandemic. All projects are focused on estimating the associated health burden at both the country and global levels. 

The second day was devoted to the Global Burden of Disease 2021 study and particularly discussed the burden associated with patient safety and unhealthy food environments. The meeting provided participants with the competencies and tools needed to understand the impact of different conditions and adversities on the health and well-being of people. The Tallinn meeting abstract is available at this link. 

The second event was organized by the CATINCA project on September 19-21, 2023, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. This was a workshop on “Causes of Death Statistics and Mortality Indicators.” The concepts of the burden of disease, demographic indicators of mortality, and summary measures of population health were discussed, followed by country presentations within CATINCA. Dr. Aline Anton presented the Armenia project titled “Burden of Hepatitis B, C: Methods and Results from Armenia.” Hratchia Lylozian, MD, (MPH ’16) and Lilit Alaverdyan (MPH ’22) attended the meeting. The CATINCA project covered all expenses related to their participation.

The AUA Turpanjian College of Health Sciences works actively to improve population health and health services in Armenia and the region through interdisciplinary education and development of health professionals to be leaders in public health, nursing, health services research and evaluation, and health care delivery and management.