News and notes
This department furnishes information concerning institutions, organizations, and individuals engaged in work on leprosy and other mycobacterial diseases, and makes note of scientific meetings and other matters of interest.
Italy. International Conference on Molecular Aspects of Immune Response and Infectious Diseases. This conference is scheduled for 25-28 July 1989 in Rome. For details contact: Dr. C. De Sione, Mal. Infett., Fac. Med. e Chir., Univ. Studi dell'Aquila degli Abuzzi, L'Aquila 67100, Italy.
Kenya. African Regional Workshop on Youth Mobilization for Leprosy Work. This workshop took place in Nairobi 24-28 May 1988. The Leprosy Relief Organization Munich (AHM), West Germany, has supported an innovative program of the youth and student involvement in leprosy eradication in India with very successful results. The program has been acknowledged nationally and internationally. AHM was encouraged by their experiences in India and wanted to expand their work in Africa. Therefore, AHM approached World Assembly of Youth (WAY) and World Health Organization (WHO). WAY is one of the largest coordinating bodies of National Youth Councils and National Youth Organizations around the world with highest consultation status with the U.N. system including WHO. WAY has an extensive network of National Youth Organizations in Africa. A meeting of Dr. Noordeen (WHO), Mr. Shiv Karc (WAY) and Mr. and Mrs. Gruner (AHM) was organized in Munich, and they decided to initiate the work in Africa with an African regional workshop on youth mobilization for leprosy work. WAY agreed to organize the same with financial assistance from AHM, and WHO offered technical assistance in conducting the workshop and also the possibility of cosponsoring the workshop. The cooperation of ILU was also requested. It was also agreed that the national plan of action would be prepared at the workshop. WAY, in close consultation with AHM, made preparations for the workshop. The government of Kenya cordially granted the permission and the Kenya Association of Youth Organization, a WAY affiliate, provided all local support.
The major objectives of the workshop were: 1. to educate the youth with the scientific facts related to medical, social, psychological, and economic aspects of the situation of leprosy; 2. to highlight the issues related to leprosy health education; 3. to develop the interest among youth to undertake leprosy work in their respective countries; and 4. to develop the skills necessary for planning a leprosy health control program to be executed on a local level.
Twenty-five youth from 12 (mainly English speaking) African countries participated in the workshop. Youth leaders and youth workers from the National Youth Council and the National Youth Organizations and Departments of Youth and Sport agencies came from Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Mauritius, Nigeria, Somalia, Malawi, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. All participants were involved in social work in their respective countries, and some had working experience in the general health field.-(From the Report)
The Netherlands. 4th Immunodermatology Symposium. The symposium is to be held 21-23 September 1989 in Amsterdam. For details contact: QLT Convention Services, Keizersgracht 792, 1017 EC Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Spain. Fontilles International Courses 1989. XXVI Curso Internacional de Leprologia para Médicos y XXXII Curso Internacional de Leprologia para Misioneros y Auxiliares Sanitarios organizado por el Sanatorio San Francisco de Borja de Fontilles y patronocinado por la Soberana Orden Militar de Malta con la colaboración de la Escuela Profesional de Dermatologia de la Universidad de Valencia, Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo, y profesores de dermatología de las facultades de medicina:
El XXVI Curso tendrá lugar en el Sanatorio de Fontilles desde el dia 13 al 18 de Noviembre de 1989 dirigido por el Dr. J. Terencio de las Aguas, Director Médico del Sanatorio.
El XXXII Curso tendrá lugar en el Sanatorio de Fontilles desde el dia 16 Octubre al 4 Noviembre de 1989 dirigido por el Dr. J. Terencio de las Aguas, Director Médico del Sanatorio.
Los aspirantes a este curso deberán dirigir sus instancias al Comité Ejecutivo Internacional, 3 Place Claparede, Ginebra (Suiza) antes del 30 de Junio de 1989 y al mismo tiempo al Dr. José Terencio de las Aguas, Sanatorio San Fco. De Borja, 03791 Fontilles (Alicante-España).
Switzerland. New type TDR grant for scientist. The UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) announces the establishment of a TDR Project Development Grant which will be used to enhance the involvement of scientists from developing countries in research targeted at the development of new and better tools to control major tropical diseases.
This grant is open only to national scientists of developing countries who are interested in pursuing research on one or more of the TDR target diseases-malaria, schistosomiasis, filariasis (including onchocerciasis), African trypanosomiases, Chagas' disease, the leishmaniases and leprosy. It is designed to assist scientists in formulating technically sound proposals suitable for consideration for financial support by the various TDR Steering Committees.
The maximum amount allowable per investigator under this nonrenewable grant is US$10,000. These funds may be used to seek the advice of recognized experts in the preparation of a research proposal on a subject area of interest to TDR; to gather baseline or other preparatory data; and/or to initiate preliminary research.
Interested scientists are invited to submit a proposal on the official TDR Director's Initiative Fund application form (available from Communications Officer, TDR, World Health Organization, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland). Completed application forms should be sent to the Office of the Director, TDR, at the WHO address given above.
All requests for additional information should be addressed directly to the Secretary of the Steering Committee corresponding to the applicant's proposed topic of research (Chemotherapy of Leprosy: Dr. Ji Baohong; Immunology of Leprosy: Dr. H. Engers) at the WHO address given above.
Switzerland. TDR support for telefax equipment. In an effort to support and encourage better communication among TDR-supported institutions, TDR will consider requests for telefax equipment in research project proposals submitted to TDR in the future.
This support is available only to investigators and institutions in developing countries.
TDR will approve up to US$4000 for purchase of a telefax machine. Institutions will be encouraged to purchase this equipment locally.
In most countries, telefax equipment is regulated by national postal authorities. Principal investigators should ensure that the make and model of the telefax equipment requested has received the necessary local authorizations. The availability of maintenance and repair services should also be verified.
Apply to: TDR, WHO, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland. -Leprosy Review
U.K. Application for LEPRA research grants in U.K. The eradication of leprosy is LEPRA'S ultimate goal. Toward that end, LEPRA'S main policy is to extend the WHO recommended multidrug therapy to as many leprosy patients as possible by means of domiciliary control programs and to encourage and support research which is directly relevant to the understanding, prevention, and cure of leprosy.
LEPRA is therefore prepared to make grants for single projects which are designed to answer a single question or a small group of related questions in these areas. Such support will usually be limited to a maximum period of 3 years. Continuation of a grant within that period will be subject to annual review after receipt of a progress report, required at the end of each calendar year. Proposals for the support for a program of research, rather than a finite project, will also be considered but not normally for an initial period of more than 3 years. In both cases an application for an extension of the grant beyond the normal 3-year period will be considered on its merits. It is expected that the grant holder will be actively engaged in his/her own project.
Applications may be submitted at any time, and will be considered at the earliest possible meeting of LEPRA'S Research Grants Committee, which normally meets in late January, May, and early October. Applications are required 6 weeks in advance of each meeting.
For full application protocol and forms please write to: Projects and Research Officer, LEPRA, Fairfax House, Causton Road, Colchester, Essex COl 1PU, and not to ILEP. -Leprosy Review
U.K. Awards to TLM staff. Congratulations are in order for the following TLM staff members:
Dr. Grace Warren -awarded a Medal of Honor by the National Department of Health in Taiwan in appreciation of all she has achieved through the training and encouragement of local medical staff during the past 28 years.
Jean Watson -TLM's Physiotherapy Consultant received an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honors List for her services to leprosy patients, particularly in the sphere of disability prevention. She was also made a Fellow of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy.
Keith and Ruth Skillicorn -(recently retired from TLM) were awarded the Australia Medal for "agriculture and leprosy work in India and Bangladesh."
U.K. Wellesley Bailey Scholarship. The Leprosy Mission (International) has funded a training and research scholarship named after the Mission's founder, Wellesley Bailey. The Scholarship(s) will be awarded annually up to a maximum value of £5000 to enable a leprosy worker to engage in an approved research project or in training in one of The Leprosy Mission's centers. Application forms and further details are available from: International Director, The Leprosy Mission (International), 80 Windmill Road, Brentford, Middlesex TW8 0QH.- Leprosy Review
U.S.A. Brazil rehabilitation expert elected to President's chair at American Leprosy Missions. American Leprosy Missions (ALM), the 82-year-old medical mission that fights leprosy in 31 nations, will install a new president during 1989. He is Thomas Ferrari Frist, 43, a Florida-born public health expert who, since 1976, has directed a Brazilian vocational and social rehabilitation agency for people with severe disabilities.
Election of Mr. Frist by ALM's Board of Directors followed an announcement by John R. Sams, President since 1984, that he will retire in July of this year. Mr. Sams, who earlier served as the medical mission group's Executive Vice-President, guided ALM through a period of growth in which it quadrupled in both income and operations.
President-elect Frist, who will undertake his new duties on July 1, began work in the field of rehabilitation as a psychiatric aid at Yale Psychiatric Institute in 1970. In 1972 he worked in Tanzania researching the needs and resources of handicapped leprosy patients, a work that brought him to the attention of ALM and led to his hiring by the organization a year later. In 1973, in connection with an ALM "Pro-Rehab" program designed to end the segregation of leprosy patients, Mr. Frist was sent to Brazil. There he worked first as a rehabilitation consultant at a famed leprosy treatment center, the Hospital Lauro de Souza Lima. Then, in 1976, he founded a "Sociedad para Rehabilitacao e Reintegração do Incapacitado" (SORRI). SORRI became the huge South American nation's best-known and most advanced center for work in the field of vocation and social integration of handicapped people, and especially of leprosy patients crippled by their disease. Mr. Frist's leadership at SORRI brought him Brazil-wide and later world-wide recognition, and led to his appointment as consultant to important state, national and Pan American Health Organization programs and committees.
Mr. Frist is an honorary citizen of the city of Bauru, Brazil, and has been honored by the municipal legislature of Sao Paulo for distinguished service to the city.
The new Chief Executive-elect of ALM is a graduate of Davidson College, Davidson, North Carolina, and holds a Master of Public Health degree from Yale University. A Fulbright scholar in both India and France, Mr. Frist has done advanced study at Harvard University Graduate School of Business, Columbia University Business School, the University of Madrid, and the Université de Montpellier. He is married to the former Clare Elizabeth Strachan, and the couple has two children: Lisa Kristin (4), and John Daniel (1).
ALM President John Sams, hailing the choice of Frist as his successor, told the ALM staff that "Nowhere in the world could the Board have found a better, more adequately prepared person to guide this organization than Tom Frist. He will, I am certain, multiply the vigor and wisdom of our worldwide assault on leprosy and the damage that it often brings." - (From ALM newsrelease)
U.S.A. Number of new leprosy patients. In 1988 there was a total of 178 new leprosy patients diagnosed in the U.S. This compares to 213 new cases in 1987. Most of the new patients were diagnosed in California (73), followed by Texas (33), Hawaii (16), Massachusetts (14), Louisiana (9), Illinois (7), New York City (7), and Washington (7). -Centers for Disease Control MMWR 37 (1989) 802-803.