Institute of Public Health Albania

The theme is 'Conquering challenges with Immunology' and as the COVID19 pandemic has demonstrated, immunology has a unique and transformative ability to address global public health problems.

Prof Mitali Chatterjee and Dr Mohamed Osman provided an overview and update on the current state of research into vaccines for leishmaniasis. Leishmaniasis refers to a diverse group of diseases, all caused by single-celled parasites called Leishmania.

Dr Khushboo Borah Slater and Dr Chyntia Carolina Díaz Acosta discussed the prospects for a vaccine for Leprosy, the disease caused by Mycobacteria Leprae of which there are still over 200,000 new cases of diagnosed every year.

Prof Mukhopadhyay and Dr Dastidar discussed the prospects for a vaccine for Melioidosis, the disease caused by a bacterium, Burkholderia pseudomallei, which is found across tropical and semi-tropical regions worldwide causes an estimated 89,000 deaths.