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Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz
Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocruz
ISSN: 1678-8060 EISSN: 1678-8060
Vol. 99, Num. s1, 2004, pp. 3
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Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz, Vol. 99, Suppl. 1, August, 2004, pp. 3, 2004
FOREWORD
Mitermayer Galvão
dos Reis
President of the Symposium
Code Number: oc04078
The 9th International
Symposium on Schistosomiasis took place in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil,
from 2 to 5 November, 2003. The Oswaldo Cruz Foundation regional unit
in Bahia, represented by the Gonçalo Moniz Research Center, was
responsible for the organization of the meeting.
The Oswaldo Cruz
Foundation has a tradition of organizing these meetings and this is the 9th
time that the researcher teams had the chance to get assembled and discuss
the most updated advances in the area of schistosomiasis, an endemic disease
that is still a challenge for scientists of this century, in spite of the
extensive work already done to control this disease in different endemic
countries.
In Brazil, it is
estimated that around 4 to 5 million people are still infected, particularly
in the Northeastern region of the country, with deleterious effects on general
health, productivity and life expectance of those individuals.
The Symposium achieved
a great deal of exchange of experiences, gathering a good amount of new ideas
and strategies to help to control this important public health problem, firmed
in ad hoc meetings held during the event. There were around 500 registered
participants, among students and experts from several countries, such as
the United States, England, Australia, Belgium, New Zeeland, the Netherlands,
as well as from many states of Brazil.
The Symposium sponsored
the accommodation to all invited speakers and covered the costs of air-fares
for those invited speakers coming from countries where schistosomiasis is
endemic.
There were 42 registered
oral presentations of studies in the area (both on course and finalized)
and 105 posters.
We would like to
thank the World Health Organization/TDR, represented at the Symposium by
the presence of Dr Lester Chitsulo and Dr Ali Mohammadia, for the much appreciated
assistance in the organization of this Symposium and the important positive
repercussion that such a meeting will bring to findings in public health.
Mitermayer Galvão
dos Reis
President of the Symposium
Copyright 2004 Instituto Oswaldo Cruz - Fiocruz.
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