COST Action CA17110
The Hotline Project
Countries typically collect disease data in a way that is best suited for their specific needs. Therefore, differences exist in the sampling schemes and the diagnostic methods, which produce non‐comparable data and, subsequently, non‐comparable estimates of the prevalence of disease. The objective of the HOTLINE project was to make disease information comparable and interpretable across different sampling and testing settings. To serve this objective a series of Bayesian tools were developed and applied. Reporting guidelines aimed at promoting a more consistent approach to communication of animal health surveillance activities and their outputs, including what information must be reported to make true prevalence estimation feasible, have also been created. For tutorial purposes, an interactive web application was created to carry out Bayesian analysis of hierarchically structured prevalence data. E‐lectures and training material for all models and methods are available through the free training session of our webpage with step by step explanations.
European Burden of Disease
COST Action CA18218
What are the most relevant diseases in a country? Which risk factors are the strongest contributors to disease and death? How is the impact of different diseases evolving over time, and how does it compare between countries and within subnational units? As the need for prioritising the use of available resources constantly increases, a timely, sound and comprehensive answer to these fundamental questions is more than ever needed to inform public health decision making.
The complexity of the burden of disease approach however resulted in major disparities in research capacity across Europe. The burden-eu COST Action will address current challenges by 1) stimulating interaction between existing efforts, 2) supporting technical capacity building at country level, 3) providing a platform to support methodological advances, and 4) addressing the need for an actionable understanding of the process underlying knowledge translation.