STEPS Workshop
STEPS Workshop - Strengthening Engagement in Public Health Research
Alzheimers Disease, The Elderly and the Family: The Case of Cyprus
SinceNovember 2009, RUBSI participates as an associate partner in theprogram STEPS (Strengthening Engagement in Public Health Research). Theprogram is coordinated by University College London and participantsare all the new EU member states.
STEPS (www.steps-ph.eu) runsunder the 7th Framework Program of the European Commission and morespecifically under Science in Society – CAPACITIES program. Its mainobjective is to collect data in relation to Public Health Research inall new member states and to promote Civil Society Organisations inPublic Health Research.
One of the activities of the program isthe organisation of a national workshop in each participant country,which includes discussion on an important public health topic that hasnot been thoroughly researched in the country. Within this frameworkRUBSI organised on the 19th March 2010 a workshop with main topic ofdiscussion “Alzheimer’s Disease, the Elderly and the Family: The case of Cyprus”.
Participantsin the workshop were researchers from the University of Nicosia and theCyprus University of Technology. Regarding Civil Society Organisationsthe workshop was attended by the Cyprus Alzheimer’s Association, theAlzheimer’s Multidisciplinary Committee, appointed by the Ministry ofHealth, the Cyprus Family Planning Association, the Youth Council andthe Cyprus Sociological Association. Also it was attended byrepresentatives of the Ministry of Health, as the focal point in Cypruson European Health Programs, and the Cyprus Research PromotionFoundation, as the focal point on the EC 7th Framework Program. DrStella Mishiaouli, MP, represented the Parliamentary Committee ofHealth as a participant in the workshop.
The discussion onAlzheimer’s Disease was very fruitful, since it focused on the need forresearch on the general populations’ knowledge and attitudes onAlzheimer’s, epidemiology and the problems of the families and carersof persons with Alzheimer’s disease. The workshop highlighted the needto involve the Civil Society organisation in this research.
Theconclusions of the national workshops were discussed in a partnermeeting that took place in Malta last May. Reports on the workshopswill be included in a general report to be submitted to the EC at theend of June.
10th Jun. 2010