Examples of tropical disease control in the humanitarian medical programmes of MSF and Merlin

Humanitarian medical programmes in the tropics have the opportunity to provide beacons of good practice. The use of modern drugs and diagnostics, a lack of bureaucracy, adequate budgets, motivated staff and well-functioning supply lines all contribute to the success of this approach. At a joint meeting of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Medecins Sans Frontieres and Merlin, new data were presented on the outcomes of recent humanitarian programmes to control malaria (Ethiopia), human African trypanosomiasis (south Sudan), Lassa fever (Sierra Leone) and tuberculosis (Tomsk, former USSR). (C) 2005 Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.