WHOIRTC, Lausanne, Switzerland, October 11-22, 2011
Course coordinators: Prof. FabienneTacchini-Cottier, Director, WHO-IRTC

Twenty-three participants from developing countries, all currently working in Leishmaniasis, and two observers participated very actively in the course. An international panel of facilitators contributed to the teaching and/or practical sessions. The participants were from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Iran, Mali, Mongolia, Nepal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Tunisia. The teachers were from Belgium, Brazil, France, India, Spain, Switzerland, UK, USA and Tunisia.
The interactions were very lively and constructive between participants andlecturers, as well as among participants and contributed to success.We had lectures on each aspect of Leishmaniasis relevant to healthprofessionals in the field and were lucky to count among the facilitators worldleaders in this area.
Each participant had the opportunity to present his/her current work in special discussion forum sessions in which lecturers specialists were present. In addition, each participant to the course contributed actively to this program with constructive criticism and suggestions. A practical session was also conducted and was highly appreciated.
Each student got free access to the program immunology online one month prior to the course to update their knowledge and each of them was required to pass an online test on global immunology before attending the course.
The course was divided in specific modules starting from the epidemiology of the Leishmaniaparasite and its structure to clinical detection and basic immunology of the different forms of the disease andtheir treatments. It ended with aspecial section on vaccine design.
The feedback gathered from an evaluation questionnaire to the participants was very positive and confirmed the importance of sucha training program for developing country young scientists.

The IUIS support provided to the WHO-IRTC /UNIL was crucial to the success of this training programand covered expenses for:

Dr. (Mrs.) TaherehTaheri
Molecular Immunology and Vaccine Research Lab, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran.

MrJemal Ali Mahdi
Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences
University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia.