Diseases have no borders. A disease anywhere in the world may become a health threat everywhere. It takes less than 36 hours for an outbreak to spread from a remote village to any major city in the world, therefore, the most effective – and cost effective – way to protect people from such health threats i.e measles, cholera and COVID-19 is to stop them before they spread to others and cross borders. Here comes the role of public health surveillance. Public health surveillance is the continuous, systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of health-related data. An effective disease surveillance system is essential to detecting disease outbreaks quickly before they spread, cost lives and become difficult to control. Digital technologies can improve the ability to both detect and respond to disease outbreaks by sharing data swiftly thus helping us to understand how and where diseases are spreading. This information is crucial for deciding what health policies and strategies to make and follow. Significance of this research is not limited to one country but it has global health dimensions. It can help to address the critical issue of global health security by evaluating the impact of digital technologies on public health surveillance. Low and middle income countries (LMICs) including Pakistan have fragile health systems therefore the risk of spreading diseases, even beyond their borders, is high. Disease surveillance system in Pakistan has largely been outdated and paper based, frequently leading to delayed detection of measles, cholera and other communicable disease outbreaks. In 2017, Ministry of Health Pakistan, with support of World Health Organization (WHO), launched Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) system which uses electronic health information system (District Health Information System – DHIS-2) as a platform for rapid and near real time reporting for selected diseases. From 2017 to 2022, the new system was implemented in 52 districts of the country while remaining 104 districts are still using paper based system. The dual existence of different reporting systems presents a unique opportunity for a comparative analysis, allowing for insights into the effectiveness of the digital transition. As a doctoral researcher, I will conduct an evaluation to address the existing knowledge gap regarding the effectiveness of transitioning from traditional paper-based disease data reporting systems to new digital systems. Specifically, my research will focus on evaluating the impact of Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) and District Health Information System 2 (DHIS-2) initiatives in Pakistan. This evaluation aims to assess the effectiveness of new electronic infectious disease surveillance system in enhancing the country's health system capabilities. I aim to conduct a comparative analysis of the performance between DHIS-2, an electronic system, and traditional paper-based systems through cross sectional study, evaluate the effectiveness of the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) framework and the District Health Information System 2 (DHIS-2) through a comprehensive assessment and explore the determinants influencing the adoption of electronic surveillance systems through a mix method study. The local research infrastructure is well-established, with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Pakistan under Ministry of Health serving as a central data hub for disease surveillance and public health information. The presence of this infrastructure is vital for the success of the research project, as it provides access to comprehensive and up-to-date data on disease surveillance, outbreaks, and response efforts across Pakistan. The NIH website hosts weekly epidemiological IDSR reports. These reports serve as a rich source of information, forming the foundation for the research and ensuring the reliability and relevance of the data collected. Furthermore, the International Doctoral Programme in Epidemiology and Public Health at Tampere University, drawing on its expertise and research strength, will help to improve the quality and depth of the research findings. Together, these elements of the research infrastructure will contribute to the robustness of the study. The research project is feasible as IDSR implementation, led by Ministry of Health Pakistan, is already in progress with support of WHO. I have five years of practical experience, as a public health expert, in disease surveillance, monitoring and evaluation with World Health Organization, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and UK Health Security Agency. My previous role as the Training Coordinator in the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) project has been very relevant. Research will be implemented in phased manner starting from kick off meetings, ethical approvals to data collection, data analysis, reporting and dissemination and finalization and publications. The results of this study may help to improve global health security by examining how well digital health information systems detect and respond to diseases quickly. In Pakistan, the findings might help strengthen the healthcare system, providing useful guidance to policy makers and contributing to practical strategies for better public health monitoring. My research is in line with the European Union's recent Global Health Strategy, which is a cornerstone of the EU's external policy. Addressing and mitigating health threats, particularly pandemics, is highlighted as a key priority within this strategy. Through my research, I aim to contribute to this overarching goal by examining the effectiveness of infectious disease surveillance systems, ultimately working towards a healthier and more resilient global community.

Emerging technologies such as affordable smart phones with 4G access, broadband internet, and interactive interfaces employing gestures or speech, are revolutionizing the ways we access information, learn new skills and interact with the world around us. However, developing world communities - who stand to benefit from such technologies - were, until recently, largely neglected. Interactive technologies provide a means to address learning challenges such as functional illiteracy and information access barriers, and can improve learning and education, health and wellbeing, and agricultural practices.

VitalSens is a joint research project with the main goal of designing a smart, cost effective and scale-able personalized biomedical remote monitoring health platform. Printable wireless electronic sensors for continuous ECG monitoring are designed. Further, the ECG recordings are stored in a cloud storage. We then proceed by developing a computational engine which processes the physiological measurements and provide automated event detection for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). The primary focus is to create an intelligent processing system which is adaptive to the patient ECG recording.

Novel materials and fabrication methods for body-centric passive wireless sensors (NOSE), is a project that is coordinated at the Tampere University of Technology, by the wireless identification and sensing systems research group (WISE). In this research project, embroidery of conductive yarns and 3D direct write dispensing of novel conductive materials; graphene, copper, and stretchable silver inks, as well as protective coatings, are used to fabricate flexible and reliable antennas and interconnections embedded into textile materials.

CoNHealth will bring together leading researchers with wide-ranging research experience in the context of a collaborative scheme of research exchanges and networking to advance current knowledge in the area of intelligent wireless networks for medical ICT applications. The project is endorsed by 8 institutions including 3 partners from EU countries (UK, Italy, and Finland), 2 partners from industrialized third countries (US and Japan), and 3 partners from an International Cooperation Partner (ICP) country (China).

Project focuses on a wireless body area network (WBAN) as a core of ideal ubiquitous healthcare infrastructure, which can provide us new paradigm to create innovations for future healthcare in academia and industry by employing advanced wireless technologies which Finland and Japan have been leading in a world. WBAN is a crucial wearable and implant network sensing various vital data for diagnosis and controlling actuators for health treatment around a body, and constructs a ubiquitous healthcare network combining with existing radio, and optical, networks such as a mobile cellular network and Internet. The research is divided into three paradigms: Dependable wireless communication in healthcare applications, developing the IEEE802.15.6-2012 standard, and improving the efficiency of clinical approval for compliance for novel WBAN devices.

Stroke is a major cause of adult disability that poses an enormous healthcare burden. It has been estimated that in Finland annual stroke-related costs (e.g., special care, rehabilitation) are 1.1 billion euros (7 % of the annual total healthcare costs).

Stroke is a major cause of adult disability that poses an enormous healthcare burden. It has been estimated that in Finland annual stroke-related costs (e.g., special care, rehabilitation) are 1.1 billion euros (7 % of the annual total healthcare costs).

The use of wireless technologies has a lot of potential in finding new home-care related solutions, as well as in improving efficiency in hospitals. Number of applications is monifold both in medical and healthcare, e.g., a possibility of monitoring parameters at home and hospital. Self-care, selfmanagement and cost effectiveness will be the key factors towards the development of these new technological solutions. One example of utilizing wireless technologies leads to distributed hospital concept, in which measurement done at home are sent automatically to healthcare units database, and doctors or nursing staff obtain alarms when necessary. Wireless body area networks (WBAN) have been seen as a future implementation scheme of measuring human physiological parameters. Small and low power sensors installed on-body, or even in-body, are connected to each other and out-of-body using energy efficient wireless communication technique. Wireless connection will allow patients to move around, but still allowing the controlling capability of the nursing staff. The developed system can be transferred from hospitals to home due to the well defined interfaces between the WBAN and the access point of backbone network. In the project, suitable transceivers and network solutions for WBANs are investigated starting form channel models

The subject of this research work is the design and development of novel applications and services targeting wireless body area networks for health and medical-care applications to be used in the healthcare facility and home. The project focuses on realizing a number of areas including a channel model for tissue implanted device and onbody sensors for wireless body area networks. A central component of wireless body area networks is an antenna and there are several issues to consider when designing an antenna for WBAN’s applications, including power consumption, size, frequency, biocompatibility and the unique RF transmission challenges posed by the human body.