Vaccine Forum’s 9th annual Symposium

The Vaccine Forum of Sri Lanka will hold its 9th annual Symposium on Vaccines on October 7 at the New Lecture Hall of the Colombo Medical Faculty on Kynsey Road.

While the Director General of Health Services, Dr. Anil Jasinghe will be the Chief Guest, the WHO Representative to Sri Lanka, Dr. Razia Pendse will be the Guest-of-Honour at this halfday symposium open to all medical professionals, nurses and paramedical personnel to update themselves on recent developments in vaccinations.

Session 1 of the symposium will include ‘An end to human rabies deaths; Are we on the right track?’ by Dr. D. Kumarasinghe (Consultant Virologist, Medical Research Institute, Colombo); ‘Recent advances in Japanese B Encephalitis vaccine’ by Dr. Sumit Srivastava from Sanofi Pasteur, India; and a joint session on ‘Diagnosis and management of anaphylaxis’ by Prof. Neelika Malavige (Professor in Microbiology, University of Sri Jayewardenepura) and Dr. Danushka Dasanayake (Consultant Immunologist, Teaching Hospital, Kandy).

Session II will include ‘Immunization in chronic respiratory diseases’ by Dr. Kirthi Gunasekera (Senior Consultant Respiratory Physician, Colombo); ‘National Immunization Programme in primary care -- Learning from history to a future’ by Dr. Prasad Liyanage (Regional Epidemiologist, Kalutara); and ‘Universal influenza vaccine -- Fallacy or reality’ by Dr. Jude Jayamaha (Consultant Medical Virologist, National Influenza Centre, Medical Research Institute, Colombo).

The registration fee is Rs. 500 for members and Rs. 1,000 for non-members. Registration will commence at 8 a.m. at the venue.