Médecine tropicale : revue du Corps de santé colonial
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Despite extensive national and international intervention, little progress has been made in controlling, malaria and other communicable diseases afflicting many developing countries in the world. In response to the need to pursue and enhance investigation, the French Ministry of Research launched the PAL+ program in 1999 with the purpose of promoting concerted "research on malaria and other communicable diseases afflicting developing countries". The program is focused on developing methods of prevention and treatment for countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. ⋯ The exceptionally instructive impact of these workshops has proven to be an essential element in the overall PAL+ program that has greatly stimulated malaria research. This program has been successful in creating a new spirit of intervention and has provided a rarely equalled vehicle for collaboration. By bringing the whole research community together over the major research programs now under way in the North/South networks, the PAL+ program represents a new and decisive step in achieving the long-sought goal of meaningful scientific cooperation between northern and southern hemisphere countries in the domain of public health.
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The main goal of emergency medicine training is to teach the wide range of sciences and skills necessary to recognize and stabilize emergency situations. Emergency medicine training has proven highly effective in developed countries especially with regard to organization of survival medicine. This type of training is especially important in sub-Saharan Africa where there is a severe shortage of intensive care specialists and an almost total lack of other personnel qualified to manage life-threatening trauma and disease. ⋯ Students undergo regular assessment of their scientific knowledge and practical competencies after each module. As additional prerequisites for the diploma, they must be certified in first aid and rescue and present a research paper. Despite the lack of faculty and teaching materials, this program is expected to increase the number of emergency medical care providers and improve access to high-quality emergency care services.
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French Guiana is a French Overseas Department in South America. Ninety-five percent of the territory is a tropical rainforest. Its rich fauna includes seven families of snakes but only 3 are potentially venomous. ⋯ Crotalus durissus, a rattlesnake living in coastal savannah, or Micrurus sp cause neuromuscular poisoning. Coral snakes are encountered throughout French Guiana, but envenomation is very rare. Antivenom therapy must be administered by the intravenous route in association with symptomatic treatment and, if necessary, resuscitation in a specialized care unit.
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Governmental humanitarian action is an old concept in France, that is a topic of current interest. To conduct humanitarian action, the French government has deployed various facilities. The military biological risk team was established to control epidemics, provide expertise during epidemiological emergencies, and conduct mass vaccination programs. The author describe the missions carried out by the biological risk team during the 1990s as an illustration of governmental humanitarian action.