Since 1988, MMI has organized the “Refresher Course in Tropical Diseases” to train healthcare professionals interested in health cooperation programs in resource-limited countries. Since 2015, the course has evolved into the “Course on Tropical Diseases and International Medicine,” now known as the “Course on Tropical Diseases and Global Health,” with a 4-week training program.
The epidemiology of infectious diseases highlights the risk factors for contracting diseases that are now more widespread, driven by increasingly global international mobility resulting from growing migration flows and tourism—including to countries lacking basic social and health services. Furthermore, diseases—particularly infectious ones—are linked to areas of poverty in the tropical regions of the world but, increasingly, also to marginalized areas within the developed world. Therefore, it is necessary to broaden the focus not only to infectious and/or tropical diseases but also to the complexity of issues in international medicine.
The course, divided into four modules, aims to provide the basic technical elements regarding global health; diseases associated with globalization and maternal and child health; the management of health services in resource-limited countries and the tropical diseases covered in the course; planning for social and health cooperation; and cultural sensitivity in the diagnostic approach and clinical management of imported diseases and those related to migration.