Cardiff Rotary Club is celebrating Rotary in Wales' centenary with the launch of a programme to treat NTDs in island communities in Lake Victoria

Cardiff Rotary Club is celebrating the centenary of Rotary in Wales with the launch of a programme to treat a range of Neglected Tropical Diseases endemic in island communities in Lake Victoria, Uganda.

The Cardiff club will work in close cooperation with fellow Rotarians and health authorities in Uganda to provide funds for a team under the direction of Alan Fenwick, Professor of Tropical Parasitology at Imperial College, London.

These debilitating parasitic diseases rob children of educational progress and adults of the ability to support and care for their families, yet each treatment costs less than 50 pence. The total cost of the programme, including contributions from Rotary International’s charity fund, will be £23,000

To launch the programme, Professor Fenwick will deliver a public lecture at the University of Cardiff School of Medicine, Michael Griffith Education Centre, Heath Hospital, Heath Park, CF14 4XN on Thursday 26^th March at 6.30 pm. Light refreshments from 5.45 pm. 

For further information on Rotary go to http://www.rotary.org/en For Neglected Tropical Diseases: The World Health Organization http://www.who.int/neglected_diseases/en/  and the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative //www3.imperial.ac.uk/schisto

For additional information, interviews and photographs please contact Alan Kemp Telephone 029 2076 4887, Mobile 07710 34 84 74, Email gwyddonydd@o2.co.uk