The Low Countries. Jaargang 2

Tropical Medicine in Antwerp

The Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp was founded in 1931 as a private institution. However, it took over the function of a School of Tropical Medicine which had been operating in Brussels since 1906. The initiative for the transformation of this school into an institute came from Crown Prince Leopold (who was to become King Leopold iii) who undertook a study tour to the then Belgian Congo in 1926 and was appalled by the health risks and the medical facilities in Central Africa at that time. On his return, he asked Emile Francqui to take the necessary steps to establish an institute which would provide medical care for persons arriving from the tropics, as well as research laboratories and teaching. A Princess Astrid Institute of Tropical Medicine was founded in Leopoldville, now Kinshasa. Since the hospital was intended to accomodate persons arriving from Africa, it was decided to transfer this institute from Brussels to Antwerp, where it was located in the Art Déco buildings in which it still operates today, very close to where the ‘Congo Boats’ docked.

In recent years, it became obvious that the relatively small size of this hospital did not permit the investment necessary in order to keep medical standards at an adequate level. An agreement was reached with the University Hospital of Antwerp by which the hospital beds were transferred to that major hospital, while other medical services stayed within the Institute. This even allowed a considerable expansion of the outpatient department, which operates specialised medical consultations for patients with infectious and tropical diseases, a travel clinic and specialised consultations in such fields as tropical dermatology, tropical pediatrics and sexually transmitted diseases. The link with the University Hospital of Antwerp means that the most elaborate technical facilities can be offered to patients, while the Tropical Medicine component for hospitalised patients is provided by doctors of the Institute.

Postgraduate teaching takes place in Dutch, but also in French. Courses for medical doctors, veterinarians and graduate nurses are intended to prepare Europeans for work overseas. In recent years, it was realised that the Institute's work should increasingly be concentrated on the training of high level personnel from developing countries. This is done in a course in public health (‘International Course for Health Development’) which is held alternately in French and in English. There is a close collaboration with a similar course which is held every other year at the Royal

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Tropical Institute in Amsterdam. Another course leads to a Master's degree in ‘Tropical Biomedical Sciences’. This course is aimed at training persons such as epidemiologists, hospital administrators, research workers or medical school teaching staff. Practical training in research work, mainly concerning animal health, can lead to a Master's degree or even a Ph.D.

Research at the Institute has been concentrated on a number of priorities for the tropics. With its 240 staff - some thirty-five of whom are university-trained - the Institute is in no position to support the expensive fundamental research which is carried out at universities. However, it plays a vital role as a link between the populations in developing countries on one hand and the major research centres on the other. Its own research work is mainly aimed at solving the health problems of these populations, making use of the results of fundamental research.

A considerable effort has been made in recent years to concentrate research around a limited number of topics, in which different laboratories can collaborate. This has led to the formation of separate research departments: Parasitology, Veterinary Medicine, Community Health, Clinical Research and Infection and Immunity. The latter department, which concentrates on sexually transmitted diseases in the tropics, is also involved in aids research.

In fact, one of the very first cases of this disease to be observed outside the United States was seen by the Institute's medical doctors. Since the patient was an African, this led to an international enquiry, which led to the conclusion that the newly described disease was probably primarily of African origin. Research workers at this Institute, mostly affiliated with the Research Department for Infection and Immunity have since concentrated their attention on the means of transmission of the infection in the tropics, and on the particular aspects of the disease in Africa.

The Antwerp Institute, together with over thirty European institutes of tropical medicine, is a member of the tropmedeurop association. This is an organisation in which Directors of Institutes meet on regular intervals. It is recognised as a non-governmental organisation with official links with the World Health

The Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp.

Organisation, which enable it to advise the who on matters of health in the tropics.

luc eyckmans

Address

Prince Leopold Institute of Tropical Medicine

Nationalestraat 155 / 2000 Antwerp / Belgium

tel. [phone] / fax [phone]