Edinburgh "By Royal Appointment"

The International Society of Travel Medicine is greatly pleased and honoured to be able to announce that Her Royal Highness, the Princess Royal (Princess Anne) will attend the 2nd Regional Conference of the ISTM - the Northern European Conference in Travel Medicine in June in Edinburgh. Her Royal Highness will be giving a plenary talk during the conference, detailing her fascinating work on behalf of voluntary agencies overseas. The Princess Royal is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth and The Duke of Edinburgh.

Save the Children Fund, of which the Princess has been President since 1970, was the first major charity with which she became closely associated, and this association has given her great insight into the needs of children worldwide. However, she also holds a very wide range of charitable appointments, to which she devotes a large part of her working life. In addition, the Princess carries out up to three overseas tours each year for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in support of British interests overseas. The Princess Royal is a very accomplished public speaker and projects a great passion for her charitable work – certainly worth a listen.

Other highlights of the conference include four plenary sessions, the first focusing on how changes to the environment can affect international travel and human health, given by two United Kingdom experts, Dr James Willis and Dr Sari Kovats. Also, at this session, Dr Eric Noji from CDC will discuss how to prepare for natural disasters.

The plenary on Day Two focuses on the more mainstream topic of risks and benefits from vaccinations, specifically the vaccines used to prevent gastro-intestinal infections (by Professor Robert Steffen), rabies (by Dr Francois-Xavier Meslin, WHO) and respiratory tract infections (by Professor David Hill).

Day Three will have a distinctly European feel with sessions by Professor Victor Maleyev and Dr Øystein Søbstad on infection risks in Scandinavia, Russia and the Baltic states, and a presentation by Professor Karl Ekdahl from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

The closing plenary finds our Scandinavian colleagues Dr Eilif Dahl and Professor Heikki Peltola presenting a fascinating insight into sea travel, past and present.

To supplement the plenary talks there is a wide and varied programme of symposia. These include sessions on health risks related to mode of travel, malaria prevention, exploration and adventure travel, risk assessment, travellers with chronic diseases and underlying health problems, coping with difficult situations in the travel clinic, travel to extreme environments, animal- and tick-borne infections, and the very popular regional perspectives. There are also three scheduled sponsored symposia considering issues surrounding cholera/Japanese encephalitis, hepatitis, and clinical dilemmas.

Workshops add a further dimension, and there are eight to choose from, tackling topics ranging from how to increase awareness of security and accidents, to the current situation regarding H5N1 influenza. There are also four free communication sessions, and a display of posters for delegates to browse.

No conference would be complete (or truly memorable!) without a lively social programme, and in true Scottish style, a Welcome Get-Together is being held on the opening evening, Wednesday, June 7th. Scottish hospitality that evening will include traditional pipes and drums, Scottish dancers and a sensational ceilidh band (dancing optional!). Other more light-hearted events over the three days include early morning talks on the history and culture of Scotland, a family and friends evening of music, and a golf challenge.

For full details on the Scientific and Social programme for Edinburgh, including registration details and hotel and travel options, please visit the conference website: www.nectm.com.