You can also view our full list of events either on Facebook or on the EMILY calendar.
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“Working With MSF in the Tropics” – Emma Fuell (6:00PM 14/10/09)
Event URL: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=122061545671&ref=nf
[This talk will be held in NC12, St Lukes and streamed to 'Devonport LT', Portland Sq, Plymouth, the Derriford LT, Plymouth and the Knowledge Spa LT, Truro]
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international humanitarian aid organisation that provides emergency medical assistance to populations in danger in more than 70 countries.
In this lecture, Emma Fuell will describe the process of applying to work with MSF, the work of MSF and other NGOs, life in the field as a medical volunteer in the tropics and the challenges the developing world faces in health care.
Emma Fuell has worked as a midwife for many aid agencies around the developing world, most recently having spent 7 months in Darfur before being evacuated due to instability in the region. Emma has also worked in Tanzania and for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in their overseas obstetric emergencies training programmes.
If you want to learn more about MSF and how to support them, please visit the Peninsula Friends of MSF: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2246551673&ref=ts
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“The Immunology of Leprosy” – Dr Sara Atkinson (5:30PM 17/12/09)
Event URL: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=109844006842
A chronic bacterial disease affecting mainly skin and nerves. If untreated, there can be progressive and permanent damage to the skin, nerves, limbs and eyes. Worldwide, two to three million people are estimated to be permanently disabled because of leprosy, mostly in tropical and subtropical worlds with the majority of cases found in India, Brazil and Burma. We’ll explore this debilitating disease from the angle of immunology with Dr Sara Atkinson of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/people/atkinson.sara
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“Ebola & Viral Hemorrhagic Fever” – Dr Matthias Borchert (5:30PM 14/01/10)
Event URL: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=105310930678
With a mortality rate as high as 50-89% and symptoms such as internal and external bleeding, vomiting blood, abdominal pain and exhaustion, Ebola HF and other viral hemorrhagic fevers are among the most horrifying and lethal infections known. Confirmed cases of Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever have occured in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Sudan, the Ivory Coast, Uganda, and the Republic of the Congo and being resistant to most antivirals the spread of the disease is very difficult to contain.
Dr Matthias Borchert of the LSH&TM will talk us through the pathology and treatment of Ebola and other VHFs.
http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/people/borchert.matthias
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“Leishmaniasis” – Dr Karin Seifert (5:30PM 04/02/10)
Event URL: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=118007473591
Leishmaniasis is a disease caused by protozoan parasites that belong to the genus Leishmania and is transmitted by the bite of certain species of sand fly.
In cutaneous forms, skin ulcers usually form on exposed areas, such as the face, arms and legs. These usually heal within a few months, leaving scars. Visceral leishmaniasis, also known as kala azar, is characterized by high fever, substantial weight loss, swelling of the spleen and liver, and anaemia. If left untreated, the disease can have a fatality rate as high as 100% within two years.
Leishmaniasis can be transmitted in many tropical and sub-tropical countries, and is found in parts of about 88 countries. Approximately 350 million people live in these areas. The settings in which leishmaniasis is found range from rainforests in Central and South America to deserts in West Asia and the Middle East. It affects as many as 12 million people worldwide, with 1.5–2 million new cases each year.
In this talk, Dr Karin Seifert, lecturer at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and head of the Antimicrobial Chemotherapy Study Unit, will explain the pathology and treatment of the infection and it’s effects on some of the poorest countries in the world.
