STEPS Workshop
10/06/2010
STEPS Workshop - Strengthening Engagement in Public Health Research
Alzheimers Disease, The Elderly and the Family: The Case of Cyprus
Since November 2009, RUBSI participates as an associate partner in the program STEPS (Strengthening Engagement in Public Health Research). The program is coordinated by University College London and participants are all the new EU member states.
STEPS (www.steps-ph.eu) runs under the 7th Framework Program of the European Commission and more specifically under Science in Society – CAPACITIES program. Its main objective is to collect data in relation to Public Health Research in all new member states and to promote Civil Society Organisations in Public Health Research.
One of the activities of the program is the organisation of a national workshop in each participant country, which includes discussion on an important public health topic that has not been thoroughly researched in the country. Within this framework RUBSI organised on the 19th March 2010 a workshop with main topic of discussion “Alzheimer’s Disease, the Elderly and the Family: The case of Cyprus”.
Participants in the workshop were researchers from the University of Nicosia and the Cyprus University of Technology. Regarding Civil Society Organisations the workshop was attended by the Cyprus Alzheimer’s Association, the Alzheimer’s Multidisciplinary Committee, appointed by the Ministry of Health, the Cyprus Family Planning Association, the Youth Council and the Cyprus Sociological Association. Also it was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Health, as the focal point in Cyprus on European Health Programs, and the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation, as the focal point on the EC 7th Framework Program. Dr Stella Mishiaouli, MP, represented the Parliamentary Committee of Health as a participant in the workshop.
The discussion on Alzheimer’s Disease was very fruitful, since it focused on the need for research on the general populations’ knowledge and attitudes on Alzheimer’s, epidemiology and the problems of the families and carers of persons with Alzheimer’s disease. The workshop highlighted the need to involve the Civil Society organisation in this research.
The conclusions of the national workshops were discussed in a partner meeting that took place in Malta last May. Reports on the workshops will be included in a general report to be submitted to the EC at the end of June.