Day 6

Sharing experiences and decisions

Groups will present their results to the whole School, on Saturday, 22th July. More than one more member of the group can present. Presentations should last 15 minutes at maximum followed by a 10-minute discussion. The target public are your fellow students, which are not familiar with your assignment.

How to send you presentation slides

• The final version of presentation slides should be sent as an attached file in PDF format to spsas2023@gmail.com
• The deadline for sending the final version of this PDF file is Saturday 22 July 08:00 AM.
• We will upload this version on the main computer in the auditorium, and this is the version that you should use use and we will discuss.

Day 5

Summary of context and strategies

The group should prepare a summary of the proposed responses and justify what evidence and factors were taken into account.  This summary should be organized in a 15 minute presentation that will be presented on Saturday, 22th July. We encourage you to be creative, clear, concise, and consider that you are presenting to the entire School. This is an opportunity to have valuable feedback from your colleagues and faculty after an intense 5-days immersion into a situation room.

By the end of the day today you should present a preliminary version of Saturday’s presentation to  the instructors. The instructors will visit the group’s room to give some feedback between 3 PM and 5 PM.

How to send you presentation slides

• The final version of presentation slides should be sent as an attached file in PDF format to spsas2023@gmail.com
• The deadline for sending the final version of this PDF file is Saturday 22 July 08:00 AM.
• We will upload this version on the main computer in the auditorium, and this is the version that you should use use and we will discuss.

Day 4

Deciding paths, making decisions

Situation: There is a shortage of yellow fever vaccines on the local level, no medicine available. There is vaccination hesitancy.

The local 10-bed general hospital is at full capacity due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Small general hospitals in the region are not equipped for ICU care.

However, the reference state capital hospital, 200 km away by boat, has 200 beds and 50 beds in the ICU, which has attended to patients referred.

The surveillance service noticed an increase in the number of other zoonoses cases in the affected area.

The lethality of the disease was higher than expected in the literature.

Also, a big university research group is planning a study on Yellow Fever in the area and has reached out to you.

Questions to consider

• What are the hypotheses and actions to investigate the increased lethality? How to investigate the deaths?
• What would be the strategies to guarantee an effective vaccination, hospital beds and intensive care for patients, and the logistics of all these actions?
• What information could contribute to a better monitoring of the vaccination and future impacts? How to deal with vaccine hesitancy and vaccine logistics in the area?
• Which other prevention measures could be implemented to lower the risk of transmission in the future?
• Which questions would you want to be answered in partnership with the university group?

What is expected of the group on day 4

Propose paths and responses based on a broader and more critical knowledge of the facts that arise during the health crisis.

Day 3

Political and Logistical Challenges 

Six months after the beginning of the epidemic

The local radio reported that a group of mining workers are killing wild monkeys as they believe this will reduce the risk of transmission. Based on the same belief, the mayor and the population pressure authorities to allow hunting of wild animals in the forested region of the city.

The mining area is not easily accessed and requires appropriate transportation vehicles. The mining area is partially controlled by heavily armed drug cartels who are fighting to dominate the area. Most of the mining workers are undocumented migrant laborers. Due to security threats and logistic challenges, the health technicians have not been able to reach the mining area to investigate new cases and vaccinate.

Questions to consider

• How should the team respond to this situation in order to avoid more cases, hospitalizations, and deaths?
• How can the situation room work more effectively with stakeholders and other important actors, in order to reduce  cases, hospitalizations, and deaths?
• Which strategies can enhance community awareness and engagement in the response to the outbreak?
• What could be effective strategies to address logistic challenges ?
• Which communication strategies can be used in this context?

What is expected of the group on day 3

Tackle the political and logistical issues in this health crisis situation. Aim for creativity and flexibility in designing mitigation actions that are politically and logistically feasible.

Day 2

Describing the current situation

At the time, there was no information available or organized about Yellow Fever human cases in municipalities and neighboring regions.

This is an endemic area and yellow fever vaccination coverage is 70%, higher in adults. Sporadic deaths of non-human primates are rarely reported near urban areas, until now, and are rarely investigated.

Database available

Map file

https://drive.google.com/file/d/17PQj2nYaJjGhhlX49TGeqAX45n7alV9_/view?usp=sharing

Disease data

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ibqDobv6FVY8e1me54hef24mKCfid91x/view?usp=sharing

Questions to consider

• Which strategies are priorities?
• What indicators can contribute to monitoring and coping with epidemic and risk of human cases?
• Which groups are most affected?

What is expected from the group on day 2

Analyze data to identify priorities and support future decision-making

Day 1

Known disease increase

The health epidemiological surveillance team received rumors about the deaths of 3 non-human primates at a site next to a peripheral neighborhood in a city of 100,000 inhabitants in the Amazon region, Brazil. The city is close to a mining region with rumors of extensive deforestation in a region of difficult access nearby.

The following week, 2 suspected human cases were reported in a group of fishermen coming from a non-endemic region for sport fishing.

In the following week, a death of a 42 years old man due to Yellow Fever Virus (YFV) infection was reported in a regional reference hospital in the region.

Questions to consider

1. What information is needed to assess the situation?
2. Which professionals should be involved to investigate these events?
3. What environmental aspects should be considered?

 What is expected of the group on day 1:

• Organization of the group to broaden the understanding of the situation and start the discussion about the first steps to guarantee actions with an impact in the future.