In 2020, the Kuujjuaq Dog Project (KDP) was operationalized in the Northern Village of Kuujjuaq (Québec, Canada) to mitigate issues at the human–dog interface. Differing from previous interventions in its EcoHealth approach, it provided veterinary services, educational components (school workshops and Facebook posts) and strengthened local dog control measures. In 2022, an implementation evaluation assessed its quality of its delivery, differentiation, adaptations and the community’s responsiveness. The study followed key principles of the One Health approach and a mixed-methods design, combining a survey of 74 participants and individual interviews with 10 key stakeholders and 25 other community members. Analysis confirmed the relevance of the KDP, highlighting its innovative nature compared to previous dog-related interventions in northern Québec. Awareness of and exposure to the KDP’s components varied considerably between veterinary services (89%), Facebook posts (55%) and school workshops (27%). Global exposure to both the veterinary services and educational components was lower among Inuit, men and non-dog owners (not statistically significant). Barriers and facilitators to implementation included long-term engagement of stakeholders and building meaningful partnerships with local stakeholders. Beside supporting the future evolution of the KDP, this study fills knowledge gaps on how to successfully implement integrated, participatory interventions in northern Indigenous communities.

Methods for the detection of influenza epidemics and prediction of their progress have seldom been comparatively evaluated using prospective designs. This study aimed to perform a prospective comparative trial of algorithms for the detection and prediction of increased local influenza activity. Data on clinical influenza diagnoses recorded by physicians and syndromic data from a telenursing service were used. Five detection and three prediction algorithms previously evaluated in public health settings were calibrated and then evaluated over 3 years. When applied on diagnostic data, only detection using the Serfling regression method and prediction using the non-adaptive log-linear regression method showed acceptable performances during winter influenza seasons. For the syndromic data, none of the detection algorithms displayed a satisfactory performance, while non-adaptive log-linear regression was the best performing prediction method. We conclude that evidence was found for that available algorithms for influenza detection and prediction display satisfactory performance when applied on local diagnostic data during winter influenza seasons. When applied on local syndromic data, the evaluated algorithms did not display consistent performance. Further evaluations and research on combination of methods of these types in public health information infrastructures for ‘nowcasting’ (integrated detection and prediction) of influenza activity are warranted.

This paper discusses the challenges facing health technology assessment (HTA) in Europe, based on an explicit analysis of the characteristics of an “optimal” HTA system. It has three objectives: a) to elaborate an explicit system of policy goals and the characteristics of an optimal HTA system that facilitates the achievement of these goals; b) to identify the general institutional incentive barriers (government and market failures) that prevent the attainment of an optimal HTA system in Europe; and c) to argue that evaluation of the implications of health technologies for equity and inequality in health is an essential part of this optimal system and a considerable challenge for HTA decision makers, especially as national governments realign policy toward equity goals.