Thai Public Health to train 350 epidemiologists in 10 years' time

[webfact]

Public Health to train 350 epidemiologists in 10 years' time

BANGKOK, 5 February 2015 (NNT) -- The Ministry of Public Health has set a target to train 350 epidemiologists within 10 years' time in order to effectively deal with emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases in the future.

According to Public Health Minister, Pro. Dr. Ratchata Ratchatanavin, Thailand currently has only 128 epidemiologists, far less than the world standard. The ministry aims to train medical doctors, veterinarians and experts in wild and domestic animals to be able to trace the patterns, causes, and effects of diseases on human health. He expressed hope that Thailand could be a hub in the field of epidemiology by 2020.

The Department of Disease Control organized the 22nd national seminar on epidemiology in Bangkok on Thursday, aimed at enhancing the nation's capability in the field and setting up a stage to exchange knowledge and methodology with other ASEAN member countries.

In recent years, the world has witnessed emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases such as bird flu, severe acute respiratory syndromes or SARS, H1N1 influenza virus and Ebola.Thailand must, therefore, be prepared to deal with possible outbreaks of these or new diseases in the future, said the Minister.


-- NNT 2015-02-05

[Costas2008]

In 10 years time.............

Doesn't time go slow in Thailand?

At the moment, and for the next 10 years let's pretend that Thailand is in no danger of any epidemics or infectious diseases........

[doremifasol]

This is SICK.

[nisakiman]

Epidemiology is just medical statistics, and we all know the saying popularised by Mark Twain:

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."

It is basically junk science, and can be used (or misused) in any way the epidemiologist wants, depending on his or her personal beliefs / likes / dislikes.

Lies, Damned Lies, and Medical Science

Much of what medical researchers conclude in their studies is misleading, exaggerated, or flat-out wrong.

"...before long he discovered that the range of errors being committed was astonishing: from what questions researchers posed, to how they set up the studies, to which patients they recruited for the studies, to which measurements they took, to how they analyzed the data, to how they presented their results, to how particular studies came to be published in medical journals."

.......................

“The studies were biased,” he says. “Sometimes they were overtly biased. Sometimes it was difficult to see the bias, but it was there.” Researchers headed into their studies wanting certain results—and, lo and behold, they were getting them. We think of the scientific process as being objective, rigorous, and even ruthless in separating out what is true from what we merely wish to be true, but in fact it’s easy to manipulate results, even unintentionally or unconsciously.

..................................

Thailand needs many things, but more epidemiologists is emphatically not one of them.

Edit to add link:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/11/lies-damned-lies-and-medical-science/308269/

Edited February 5, 2015 by nisakiman

[trogers]

Will the lying change? I remember PM Thaksin (through his minister Nerwin) proclaiming Thailand has no birdflu while farm chickens were dying all over the country.

Edited February 5, 2015 by trogers

[irwinfc]

"Epidemiology is just medical statistics..."

who told you this!? i asked because you seem to be misinformed my friend.

[nisakiman]

"Epidemiology is just medical statistics..."

who told you this!? i asked because you seem to be misinformed my friend.

Epidemiology is the science that studies the patterns, causes, and effects of health and disease conditions in defined populations. It is the cornerstone of public health, and informs policy decisions and evidence-based practice by identifying risk factors for disease and targets for preventive healthcare.

Epidemiology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epidemiology

......................

Statistics is the study of the collection, analysis, interpretation, presentation, and organization of data.

Statistics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistics

...................................

I would say that there is little to choose between those two definitions. Epidemiology is merely statistics as applied in the medical field, and as such is as much subject to misinterpretation (deliberate or otherwise) as any other statistics.

..................................

Epidemiologists Vote to Keep Doing Junk Science

Epidemiology Monitor (October 1997)

An estimated 300 attendees a recent meeting of the American College of

Epidemiology voted approximately 2 to 1 to keep doing junk science!

Specifically, the attending epidemiologists voted against a motion

proposed in an Oxford-style debate that “risk factor” epidemiology is

placing the field of epidemiology at risk of losing its credibility.

Risk factor epidemiology focuses on specific cause-and-effect

relationships–like heavy coffee drinking increases heart attack risk. A

different approach to epidemiology might take a broader

perspective–placing heart attack risk in the context of more than just

one risk factor, including social factors.

Risk factor epidemiology is nothing more than a perpetual junk science machine.

But as NIEHS epidemiologist Marilyn Tseng said “It’s hard to be an

epidemiologist and vote that what most of us are doing is actually harmful

to epidemiology.”

http://www.manhealthissue.com/2007/06/epidemiologists-vote-to-keep-doing-junk-science.html