What I'm actually doing

I think it's about time that I actually write something about what I'm actually doing here at work in Cairo. Since IEIP just started here earlier this year and since I arrived just after the beginning of a new fiscal year (meaning the arrival of lots of new funding), all of our projects are just getting off the ground. What that means practically is that I'm getting great experience seeing projects from their very earliest stages, but the tasks are pretty mundane. But still, since I find the subject material fascinating, I'm enjoying it. So, here's the run down of my projects as of right now...

Vector-borne and zoonotic disease surveillance: This project is an innovative surveillance system for vector-borne (carried by mosquitoes, ticks, flies, etc.) and zoonotic (carried by animals) diseases. Unlike other systems, this plan will incorporate surveillance within human, animal and vector populations so we have a clear understanding of not just what diseases humans are getting, but what diseases are circulating that humans are at risk of getting. We'll be doing surveillance in places where humans are at high risk of contracting these diseases - abattoirs (slaughterhouses), animal quarantine facilities and live animal markets - in hopes of detecting any outbreaks or changes in disease patterns at their very earliest stages, when it's easiest to control. The project set to begin in Egypt and then will hopefully expand to a number of other countries in the region.

Respiratory illness surveillance in Libya: Another project is setting up respiratory illness surveillance in Libya, which has very little disease surveillance capacity right now. This will actually involve four parallel surveillance systems to learn more about respiratory and to be able to compare the four systems for their effectiveness. Later we'll add other diseases like diarrhea and febrile illness to the surveillance.

Disease surveillance in Djibouti: This project involves setting up integrated surveillance for a number of diseases, since Djibouti, like Libya, has very little current capacity for surveillance. We'll be setting up systems to look for respiratory illness, diarrheal disease, febrile illness, tuberculosis and a number of other diseases.

Data management: Since these (and so many other projects) are just beginning and will be generating tons of data very soon, I'm also overseeing the development of all the data and database systems. One really interesting piece of this is the data collection system. We have the opportunity to use PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants, like executives use to manage their schedules and email and all) for data collection in the field, which is such an incredible opportunity. These devices make data collection much easier, much faster and much more accurate. It's difficult to explain just how exciting it is to be able to work with this kind of technology. Read this article to find out more.

So that's what I'm working on right now. I'm sure more projects will be added as time goes on, but so far, this is plenty to keep me busy!