July Global Outreach Committee Meeting

When: Thursday, July 30th at 10:00 am EDT

Agenda:
1. Influenza H1N1 'swine flu' surveillance - collection of international experience for a special edition of the Network
2. DiSTRIBuTE (Distributed Surveillance Taskforce for Real-time Influenza Burden Tracking and Evaluation) - international participation
3. International Skills Survey - feedback and next steps
4. Any other business

Discussion:
1. Special edition of "The Network" on H1N1: The Committee discussed the possibility of publishing a special edition of their newsletter, "The Network" focused on H1N1. It was decided that contributions will be added to the ISDS blog on a rolling basis, which will allow for further feedback to be solicited in the form of reader comments. The articles, along with a summary of their commentary, will then be published into the next edition of "The Network," which will hopefully be put out in the fall. The topic areas in which the Committee is accepting submissions are:

A. Schools
B. Using surveillance for planning
C. General surveillance issues
D. Background clinical/medial advice for epidemiologists - high risk groups
E. Veterinary issues/reverse zoonosis

2. Don Olson gave an update on the current status of the DiSTRIBuTE project, and called for international participation. In the coming flu season, if it continues to be funded, it is hoped that the project can be expanded to both US and international sites.

3. International Skills Survey: The survey developed for the Committee is currently being placed on hold. It is hoped that the scope survey can be extended to the entire ISDS membership. Until the necessary changes have been made and the timing has been decided, the survey will remain inactive.

Next Meeting:
Thursday, October 1st at 10:00 am EDT.