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.
Ethiopa. ALERT 1999 Training Calendar. Dr. Guido Grocnen, ALERT's Director of Training, has provided us with the 1999 Training Calendar presented below:
January 25-February 26
Prevention and management of disabilities
Target group: physiotherapists, occupational therapists, podiatrists as well as experienced leprosy workers involved in POD. Emphasis on both patient care (early detection of nerve deterioration, health promotion, problem solving) and program management (POD management, home-based care and rehabilitation).
March 8-19
Introduction to leprosy lor physicians
Highly recommended for the participants in the following "Management of Combined Programs" course who need to refresh their knowledge of clinical leprosy. The course can also be taken on its own by physicians responsible for diagnosis, treatment and care of patients with leprosy in either a hospital or a control program setting.
March 22-ApriI 16
Management of combined leprosy and tuberculosis (TB) control programs for physicians
Target group: experienced physicians responsible for managing a leprosy and TB control program at the regional level or above. Emphasis on program management: needs analysis, action plan, implementation of activities, supervision, evaluation, management of POD. A brief review of the essentials of TB is included, but leprosy expertise is a prerequisite. Participants lacking the latter should also take the preceding "Introduction to leprosy" course.
May 10-27
Essentials of leprosy and TB for administrative and program support staff
Target group: administrative and managerial staff without a medical background working in leprosy and TB programs and donor agencies. Objectives: to gain a better understanding of the two diseases, to communicate more effectively with the medical staff, and to contribute more efficiently in decision making and priority setting.
June 7-16
Leprosy for researchers and scientists
Course aimed at scientists who are familiar with leprosy mainly in a laboratory or other research setting or as figures on a computer screen, to show them what leprosy means for the patient, clinically as well as psychologically and socially.
September 13-October 22
Essentials of leprosy and TB for physicians
Target group: physicians with limited experience in either leprosy or TB. Emphasis on clinical aspects of leprosy and TB, individual patient care and its application in the context of a combined program, with an introduction to health promotion and managerial issues, paying special attention to POD and supervision.
November 8-19
Introduction to leprosy for senior field staff
Highly recommended for the participants in the following "Management of Combined Programs" course who need to refresh their knowledge of clinical leprosy. The course can also be taken on its own.
November 22-December 17
Management of combined leprosy and TB control programs for senior field staff
Target group: experienced nurses, paramedical workers or supervisors responsible for leprosy and TB control at the district (or equivalent) level. Emphasis on planning, implementation, supervision and evaluation of control activities, with special attention for POD, health promotion and support functions. A brief review of the essentials of TB is included, but leprosy expertise is a prerequisite. Participants lacking the latter should also take the preceding "Introduction to leprosy" course.
For further information, please contact: ALERT Training Division, P.O. Box 165, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Tel: 251-1-711524 or 251-1-712792; Fax: 251-1-711199 or 251-1-711390; Email: ahri@telecom.net.et
U.K. CD-ROMS tackle global diseases. The Governors and Director of The Wellcome Trust (183 Euston Road, London, NW1 2BE, United Kingdom) invited over 100 people, most of them involved in tropical or Third World medicine, to a meeting in London on 24 April 1998 to celebrate the launching of an important new series of educational CD-ROMs (Compact Disc-Read Only Memory)-"Topics in International Health."
Those invited included representatives of the London medical schools, schools of tropical medicine in London and Liverpool, The Wellcome Trust, The Department of Health, The National Insitute for Medical Research, the Health Education Authority, the Royal Society of Medicine, the U.K. Cochrane Centre, The Department of International Development, The British Medical Association, the Royal College of Physicians of London, The Hospital for Tropical Diseases, INASP-Health and CAB International, together with other agencies and individuals involved in the production and distribution of appropriate health education in the U.K. to lesser developed countries.
Following the opening address by Dr. Bridget Ogilvie, Director. The Wellcome Trust, Mr. Paul Boateng, member of Parliament and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health, gave an address in which he emphasized the measures currently being taken by the government to alleviate poverty in Third World countries while at the same time supporting initiatives which tackle the burden of tropical diseases.
The first four CDs on malaria, sexually transmitted diseases, trachoma and sickle cell disease were published in April 1998. Four more, on leprosy, tuberculosis, diarrheal diseases and schistosomiasis, are due in the autumn of 1998 and two more, on AIDS/HIV and nutrition, in 1999. The series is intended for use by medical and life science students, lecturers, health care professionals, academics and researchers in both developed and under-developed countries. It can be run on Windows 3.1, Windows 95 or Windows NT.
To disseminate these materials as widely as possible. The Wellcome Trust is working with CAB International, a not-for-profit organization with world-wide publishing expertise. CABI's "Information for Development" program specializes in disseminating information in developing countries.
Further information: Topics in International Health, The Wellcome Trust, 183 Euston Road, London NWI 2BE. Tel 44 171 611 8888/Direct 8777. Fax 44 171 611 8545/Direct 8237. Email c.griffiths@wellcome.ac.uk. or CAB International a) U.K.: Wallingford, Oxon, OX 10 8DE, United Kingdom. Tel 44 1491 832111. Fax 44 1491 826090. Email publishing@cabi.org b) U.S.A.: 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016-4314, U.S.A. Tel 1 212 726 6490/6491. Fax 1 212 686 7993. Email cabi-nao@cabi.org -Materials from Dr. A. C. McDougall
Forum for health information providers held. A meeting of potentially far-reaching importance, chaired by Professor K.G.M.M. Alberti, President of the Royal College of Physicians of London, was held in the headquarters of the British Medical Association on 30 March 1998. This was organized by Neil Pakenham-Walsh of "INASP-Health," a specific program within the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) and Paul Chinnock, Editor of Africa Health. "INASP-Health" is dedicated to the coordination and support of activities of health information providers in developing countries, including universal access to reliable information for health professionals.
A full account of the development and aims of "INASP-Health" has been published in : I ) The British Medical Journal, volume 314, 11 January 1997, 2) WHO Liaison, volume 8, numbers 2-3, August-November 1997 and 3) World Health, 50th year, number 6, November-December 1997.
Thirty people involved in the provision of health information for developing countries were invited, including representatives of The British Medical Journal, African Health, Medicine Digest, Practical Pharmacy, Action in International Medicine (AIM), African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF), The British Council, CAB International (CABI), Essential Drugs Project, Healthlink (previously AHRTACO, Authors Licensing and Collecting Society, Book Aid International, Department for Information Studies, Sheffield University, Footsteps/Tear Fund, International Health Exchange, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Nigerian Medical Forum, Partnerships in Health Information, (previously SatelLife, U.K.), Teaching Aids at Low Cost (TALC), Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Neurology International Partnership Programme, South Thames Library and Information Services, Tropical Health and Education Trust, Tropical Health Technology and The Wellcome Trust.
The main objective of this first meeting was to discuss the advisability (or otherwise) of establishing a group or forum of health providers, essentially from the U.K., but with the option of inviting participants from outside, to: a) improve the knowledge and understanding of participants on the needs of health information users and the most effective ways of meeting those needs; b) exchange ideas, contacts, information, avoid duplication; c) lobby international organizations and others for more resources to be devoted to health information provision and argue the case for health information needs to be given due consideration in the planning and implementation of health care programs; d) facilitate partnerships between participants and/or the organizations they represent.
The initial round of "self introductions" at the meeting revealed a vast pool of experience from many parts of the world in the origination, assembly, publication, distribution and assessment of health information/material, while at the same time underlining the need for health information providers in the U.K. to liaise more closely in order to avoid duplication and ensure that the main activities of all agencies working in this field are mutually well known.
Professor Alberti guided the discussions toward the main question to be addressed at this first meeting, namely, the possible justification for the creation of a forum in the U.K., with meetings (in London), on a regular basis. This was accepted and the next meeting will be held within a few months to discuss the practical steps to be taken to ". .. assist health information providers toward the achievement of a common goal: universal access to reliable health information."
This may well be the first meeting of its kind held in the U.K. It clearly has considerable potential for the identification of appropriate and sustainable channels for the provision of reliable health information to health workers at all levels in developing countries. "INASP-Health" is supported by the British Medical Association (U.K.), Danida (Denmark), and Reuters.
Further information: INASP-Health, 27 Park End Street, Oxford, OX 1 1HU, United Kingdom. Tel/fax 44 1865 249909/ 251060. Email inasp@gn.apc.org WWW: http/ www.oneworld.org/inasp/
- Materials from Dr. A. C. McDougall
U.S.A. Call for nominations for 1999 Soper Award. This is an announcement and call for submission of nominations for the 1999 award in honor of Fred L. Soper, former Director of the Pan American Health Organization (the World Health Organization Regional Office for the Americas) from 1947 to 1958.
In addition to his service with PAHO/WHO, Dr. Soper played a major role in the fight against yellow fever and other infectious diseases in Brazil as part of his work with The Rockefeller Foundation in the 1920s and 1930s and in the control of typhus in North Africa and Italy during the Second World War. He was one of the truly major figures of the century in inter-American health.
The Award is presented annually to the author or authors of an original scientific contribution comprising new information on, or new insights into, the broad field of public health, with special relevance to Latin America or the Caribbean or both. This may consist of a report, an analysis of new data, experimental or observational, or a new approach to analyzing available data. Preference is given to studies involving more than one discipline and to papers related to infectious disease, a life-long concern of Dr. Soper.
Only papers already published in scientific journals listed in Index Medicus or in the official journals of the Pan American Health Organization are eligible for consideration. Furthermore, the Award is limited to contributions by authors whose principal affiliation is with teaching, research or service institutions located in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (including the Centers of the Pan American Health Organization).
The Award Fund is administered by the Pan American Health and Education Foundation (PAHEF), which receives voluntary contributions designated for the purpose and holds them in a separate fund. The Award consists of a suitable certificate and a monetary prize of US$1,000. The winners) of the Award each year is nominated by an Award Committee, composed of representatives designated by PAHO and by PAHEF; final selection is made by the Board of Trustees of PAHEF.
Papers submitted by or on behalf of their authors may be considered for the Fred L. Soper Award. For purposes of the 1999 Award, only papers published during calendar year 1998 will be considered; all submissions must be received by 31 March 1999 at the following address: Executive Secretary, PAHEF, 525 23rd Street N.W., Washington, DC 20037, U.S.A.