The Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), the Uganda National Academy of Sciences (UNAS), and the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina will be hosting an Infectious Diseases Symposium from 12 to 13 April 2018 in Durban, South Africa. The theme of the symposium is “Surveillance and Response to Infectious Diseases and Comorbidities: An African and German Perspective”. The symposium will explore the following topics: antimicrobial resistance, one health, comorbidities, HIV, TB, Malaria, and HCV.

The symposium will be preceded by a one-day workshop on “Science Advice” on 11 April 2018. The workshop is jointly organised with the International Network for Governmental Science Advice – Africa (INGSA-Africa) and the International Council of Science Regional Office for Africa (ICSU-ROA). The objectives of the workshop are to strengthen the capacity of scientists in providing science advice to national governments; develop and share science advice principles and guidelines pertaining to infectious diseases.

The scientific coordinators of the symposium are Professor Stefan H.E. Kaufmann ML, Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Berlin, Germany, on the side of Leopoldina; on the side of ASSAf, Professor Quarraisha Abdool Karim, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa; and on the side of UNAS, Professor David Serwadda, Makerere University School of Public Health, Kampala, Uganda.

In 2016, the Leopoldina and the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) initiated a joint series on infectious diseases. The upcoming symposium is the second event within this series.

*ML - Member of the Leopoldina

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