At the Institute for Public Health “Andrija Štampar” in Zagreb, operating as a Collaborating Centre for Capacity Building in HIV/AIDS Surveillance of the World Health Organisation (WHO), a course entitled “Designing Protocols for Population-Based and Clini

Collaborating Centre of the World Health Organisation and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration have been cooperating in providing development assistance since 2007. Through its Scholarship Fund, the Centre provides education in the area of epidemiological HIV/AIDS surveillance, mastering of new techniques, and finding the solutions for prevention and control of infectious diseases, and technical assistance to the countries in East Europe, Arica and the Middle East, where HIV represents a considerable health and economic problem.

In this context, the foregoing course was organised to provide to the participants from Sub-Saharan Africa intensive training on how to draw up a protocol as the essential starting point for HIV/AIDS surveillance. Eight candidates from six countries attended the course: from Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Uganda.