About us
Our mission
and vision
The Pan African Travel Medicine Federation was established in 2020 to introduce and expand travel medicine on the African continent.
The Federation is driven by a single goal: to advance travel medicine in Africa.
We envision travel medicine being integrated in both public and private health systems across all African countries promoting the health of travellers and communities alike.
We work to promote travel medicine on the continent by strengthening capacity and standards of care for inbound and outbound travellers, migrants, and other mobile populations in support of global health security and planetary health.
The Federation provides a unified voice for African travel medicine societies and groups to:
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develop and ensure a high standard of care in their countries,
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create a network of providers across the continent,
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foster education and research opportunities, and
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represent African travel medicine internationally.
Our story
Travel medicine can only be a truly equitable endeavour if we learn from and recognise those who are working in different contexts, including practitioners working in resource-poor areas who are contributing to the field while delivering high quality care.
The Federation has its roots in a meeting that took place at the South African Travel Medicine Conference in Cape Town in 2018. A small group, which included representatives from the the Southern African Society of Travel Medicine (SASTM), the Foundation for the Support of International Medical Training (IAMAT-FSIMT), and the International Society of Travel Medicine (ISTM) Liaison Committee, as well as practitioners from Angola, Botswana, Kenya and Senegal got together to discuss travel medicine educational opportunities for African practitioners.
The lack of travel medicine training outside of South Africa was recognized as a major barrier to the advancement of travel medicine on the continent. The IAMAT-FSIMT travel medicine scholarship program offering training opportunities through SASTM’s Travel Medicine Course and clinical observations at the Travel Doctor clinic in Johannesburg created a pipeline for young African health care providers. However, it became clear that in-country education and training was needed to support them and expand the practice of travel medicine once they returned to home.
To this end, the first Pan African Travel Medicine Conference held outside South Africa took place in October 2019 in Nairobi. The keynote speaker was Dr. Amadou Sall, former CEO of the Institut Pasteur de Dakar and the conference included travel and tropical medicine experts from Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, South Africa, Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, and Canada. There were 100 participants from Botswana, Burundi, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. The enthusiasm from the Nairobi conference was palpable and participants provided a clear mandate not to lose momentum. As a result, the Federation was launched one year later in October 2020 to support the advancement of travel medicine in Africa.
Executive committee
Matshediso Kgamane
Charles Tarimo
Walaa Shabana
Board
members
Dr. Yaone Bogatsu
Travel Medicine Society of Botswana
registration pending
Dr. Colombe Irahali
Travel Medicine Group of Cameroon
Dr. Charles Kitenge
Groupe santé voyage de la Republique
Democratique du Congo
Nurse Eyerusalem Mekonnen
Ethiopian Travel Medicine Group
Dr. Leon Ogoti
Travel Medicine Group of Kenya
Dr. Nkechi Ilodibia
Nigerian Society of Travel Medicine
Dr. Kenny Prince-Agbodjan
Groupe santé voyage du Sénégal
Dr. Charles Tarimo
Tanzania Travel Medicine Group
Dr. Sonia Kechaou-Cherif
Société Tunisienne de Médecine Tropicale et de Voyage
Dr. Simbarashe Makuni
Travel Medicine Association of Zimbabwe
