Report from the African European Travel Medicine Conference
Karl Neumann, MD, FAAP
Cape Town, South Africa.
The several hundred North American, European, Asian and Australian travel medicine aficionados who made the long trek* to the southern tip of Africa to attend the first African European Travel Medicine Conference were well rewarded for their efforts. The Conference, organized by the South African Society of Travel Medicine (SASTM), in cooperation with the International Society of Travel Medicine, attracted more than 600 attendees, with about 150 delegates from South Africa and another 100 from other African countries. Forty speakers presented the very latest material in travel medicine as well as reviews of important issues, with emphasis on topics pertinent to the African continent.
SASTM was founded in 2000 and has grown to 210 members. The Society holds two meetings a year, organizes courses, and is very active in disseminating information to further their commitment: safe and healthy travel, especially in Africa. Most SASTM members have traveled widely in Africa, are intimately familiar with the health problems that exist on the continent, and are aware of the resources that travelers can avail themselves of in case they become ill.
The Conference itself was a seamless success. The opening reception was held under the stars in the large, high-walled, inner courtyard of the pentagonal-shaped Castle of Good Hope (Fort de Goede Hoop), built by the early Dutch settlers more than 300 years ago. On instruction from the Dutch-East India Trading Company, the pioneers set up a port of call for their ships to stock up on provisions, in part to prevent scurvy and other illnesses associated with long sea voyages. The Castle of Good Hope is the oldest building in South Africa. In contrast, the Conference was held in the just-completed, ultra modern, glass-walled Cape Town Convention Center with its plush-seat auditoriums. The Center is connected to a new, ultra-modern hotel, with other hotels across the street. And only a short walk away is the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, South Africa’s most visited destination. The waterfront has magnificent sea and mountain views, exciting shopping and entertainment opportunites, and a marina. And literally above it all in Cape Town is the flat-topped Table Mountain, often described as magical and mystical, Cape Town’s most prominent feature and a world famous landmark.
But neither fabled mountain, nor great shopping, nor open air restaurants on the waterfront, nor near-perfect weather - especially appreciated by escapees from the Northern Hemisphere’s winter-enticed attendees from the task at hand, learning travel medicine. Meeting halls were full and exhibit and poster areas bustling. There was camaraderie as attendees, literally from every corner of the world, exchanged ideas, humor, and addresses. Likely, neither books nor journals nor the web will ever replace meetings of people.
* Trek, appropriately, is a South African (Afrikaan) term. It originally referred to arduous journeys, usually by ox wagon. The most famous trek, The Groot (Great) Trek took place in the middle of the 19th century when about 12,000 Boers (people of Dutch decent) left the Cape Colony, the area around present day Cape Town, to migrate north into the interior of the country, where they remained in the highveld, forming isolated communities.
