After more than a year of preparation, in the period 27-31 January 2025, the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine “Ibn Jazzar” in the city of Sousse, Tunisia hosted the First Winter School of Public Health “Interventional Epidemiology” with leading lecturers from the Department of Epidemiology and Disaster Medicine at the Faculty of Public Health, Medical University of Plovdiv – Prof. Dr. Ani Kevorkyan and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vanya Rangelova.
The Ambassador of Bulgaria to Tunisia Mr. Veselin Dyankov attended the opening of the course. It is part of a project implemented within the framework of the Bulgarian Official Development Aid, and the equipment of a classroom is also planned. The Ibn Jazzar Faculty of Medicine in the city of Sousse was founded in 1950 and is one of the four medical faculties in Tunisia, with a population of over 12 million.
A specially developed program of 16 lectures covering the main areas of the Epidemiology of infectious diseases was presented to thirty postgraduate students and family medicine specialists. The training focused on infectious diseases in Africa and Tunisia in particular, innovations in immunoprophylaxis, management of epidemic outbreaks, strategies for achieving elimination, etc. Lectures were also given by the hosts of the forum (Prof. Dr. Ali Mtiraoui, Dr. Rania Bannour, Prof. Dr. Jihén Sahli, Dr. Yassin Kalboussi, Prof. Dr. Mariem Ghardallaou, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Chekib Zedini) and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ben Chan (guest lecturer from the University of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation in Toronto, Canada).
The lecture course delivered by the Bulgarian specialists was highly appreciated. Furthermore, the completion of the project was discussed, as well as the possibilities for deepening cooperation with the Medical University of Plovdiv, including the exchange of students, lecturers, and joint projects during the meeting held between Ambassador Vesselin Dyankov and the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Prof. Mohamed Ben Diab, in the presence of Dr. Amel Amara and Prof. Ali Mtiraoui from the organizing committee.