Turpanjian College of Health Sciences Attends 15th European Public Health Conference
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BERLIN, Germany — A delegation of researchers from the Avedisian Onanian Center for Health Services Research and Development (CHSR) of the Turpanjian College of Health Sciences (CHS), American University of Armenia (AUA), Lusine Musheghyan (MPH’ 14), Zhanna Sargsyan (MPH’ 18), Zaruhi Grigoryan (MPH’ 15), Serine Sahakyan (MPH’ 15), Anahit Demirchyan (MPH’ 99), and Shant Torkom Yeretzian (MPH’ 22) participated in the 15th European Public Health (EPH) Conference held on November 9-12.
After two years of online conferences, the public health community (over 2,500 delegates from across the world) enjoyed the opportunity to meet in person and exchange the latest scientific insights in the broad field of public health under the theme “Strengthening health systems: improving population health and being prepared for the unexpected.”
The BERLIN acronym sums up the EPH conference discussions delineating how the world can learn lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic and adopt systems to be better prepared for the unexpected through the following:
B – build back better, bolder, and broader
E – equality, equity, efficiency
R – resilient and robust
L – leadership for learning
I – invest, innovate
N – network
The AUA delegation co-chaired different conference sessions, delivered oral and pitch presentations, poster walks and displays. The following studies were presented: Predictors of seropositivity against SARS-COV-2: a population-based seroepidemiological study (Musheghyan); Socio-demographic determinants of infectious disease knowledge in Armenia (Sargsyan); The impact of smoking on immunological response to SARS-COV 2: a nationwide seroepidemiological study (Sahakyan); Impact of COVID-19 on the essential healthcare services at primary healthcare level (Sahakyan); Implementation of “COVID-19 case investigation and contact tracing” training program in Armenia (Grigoryan), Prevalence and risk factors of hepatitis C virus infection in Armenia, 2021 (Demirchyan), Depression among survivors of 1988 Spitak earthquake in Armenia: a prospective cohort study (Demirchyan), and Evaluating Mood and Anxiety Disorders in Canada Through a Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) Lens (Yeretzian). The latter was based on Yeretzian’s master’s thesis project. Sahakyan and Sargsyan co-chaired the sessions on Health System Strengthening and Evidence for Health Policies, respectively.
The above listed studies were carried out in close collaboration with various stakeholders, including the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Armenia, World Health Organization, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, and Robert Koch Institute. Abstracts of all eight conference presentations were published in the European Journal of Public Health, Volume 32, Issue Supplement 3, October 2022.
The CHS team expresses gratitude for the partial scholarships received from the conference organizers and AUA Professional Development Grants that made their participation possible.
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.
