Members of the medical community, community health workers and the general public took part in the third-anniversary events planned by the Center for Tropical Diseases and International Travels at American University of Antigua College of Medicine (AUA).

This year’s celebration consisted of lectures, an International Symposium on Dengue Fever, student research day, and poster exhibition. Celebrations took place from November 21 to November 24, 2007.

Students’ Research Day featured presentations by the students of a public and community health research project, which they have conducted as part of an infectious diseases course. The Centre for Tropical Diseases and International Travels used this opportunity to present its findings of a research project that looked at the public health implications of food sold by roadside vendors in Antigua.

For the next three years, the Rotary Club of Antigua will be sponsoring the Annual Tropical Diseases Lecture. The first Rotary Club Annual Tropical Disease Lecture took place on November 22. The guest speaker was Dr. Jane Kayondo, Deputy Director, Tropical Diseases Research, World Health Organization and her presentation was on: “Research for Tropical Diseases Control: A New Strategic Direction.”

On November 24 the International Symposium on Dengue Fever was held and experts in this field included Dr. Angel Alvarez from the Pedro Kouri Medicine Institute of Cuba; Dr. David Severson, University of Notre Dame, Indiana, USA and Dr. Olusegun O. Dipeolu, American University of Antigua College of Medicine. They presented papers on different aspects of the disease, as well as findings from a project looking at the mosquitoes of Antigua undertaken by the Center for Tropical Diseases and International Travel.

The symposium was followed by a Poster Exhibition of the various public and community health projects undertaken by the Center for Tropical Diseases and International Travels in Antigua.