Emerging Diseases and Biomedical Research

The dramatic increase in infectious diseases which has taken place on the African continent in the last few years has led to unprecedented alarm at an international level because of its global dimension. Such increase is not only related to diseases linked to poverty or weather conditions, such as malaria or schistosomiasis, which are endemic in tropical areas, but are also related to health emergencies caused by viral mutations or migrations. The Ebola and Zika outbreaks which took place in 2014 and 2016 respectively have made it clear that the world we live in is insufficiently prepared to confront fast-spreading infectious diseases, which might become even more virulent and frequent in the future.

This postgraduate course will focus on state-of-the-art methods with regard to the diagnosis, prevention and control of infectious diseases of relevance in Africa, and on the latest advances in biomedical research.

Days and topics

• Wednesday 11^th: Molecular approaches to the diagnosis of epidemic diseases
• Thursday 12^th: Methods and tools for molecular characterization
• Friday 13^th: Methods and tools for molecular characterization
• Saturday 14^th: Presentation of degree and doctorate studies in biomedicine in the ULL
• Monday 16^th: Development of new vaccines
• Tuesday 17^th: Control of emerging diseases
• Wednesday 18^th: Evolution of pathology in trypanosomatids
• Thursday 19^th: International cooperation and global health
• Friday 20^th: Science and culture as means for global dialogue
• Saturday 21^st: Presentation of CampusAfrica 2018 projects
• Monday 23^rd: Pathology, diagnosis and epidemiology of protozoa
• Tuesday 24^th: Emerging and re-emerging pathogens
• Wednesday 25^th: Bioinformatics and tropical health
• Thursday 26^th: Closing session