Dr Robert Newman, an eminent expert and director of the Edmond de Rotschild Institute in New York, has made his third trip to Croatia.  On this occasion, a Round Table Conference on the subject “Treatment of Heroin Addiction: Croatian Model and the World Experience” was held at CNIPH on 29 July 2004.  It was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Government Office for  Drug Addiction Control, Zagreb Office of Health, Work and Social Welfare, professionals from county centres for the prevention and outpatient treatment of addictions, CNIPH and NGOs.  From his extensive practice in the field of methadone maintenance therapy Dr Newman has presented the experience of the Beth Israel Centre in New York.  He praised the Croatian model for the treatment of addiction with which he had been familiar for 10 years.  Pr Marina Kuzman, ScD, presented the present situation in the country on the basis of the information about the individuals treated for and/or being dependent on narcotics in 2003.  All conferees concurred that the basic concept was good, but requiring continuous effort to strengthen it.  Dr Newman recommended having annual meetings of the physicians directly concerned with this job to which to invite public figures as well.  Professor Slavko Sakoman considered that the education of general practitioners/family physicians needed reinforcing and continuous involvement.  Another proposal was for work on educating the media.  Dr Ante Invancic mentioned the lack of technical literature for general practitioners/family physicians who are the ultimate executors of methadone maintenance therapy in Croatia.  Because the present financing model poses a major problem in all counties, it is necessary to look for financial sources beyond Croatian Institute for Health Insurance.

MICROBIOLOGY SERVICE
- Head, Prof. Dr Gordana Mlinaric-Galinovic

The 25^th Annual Congress of the European Society of Mycobacteriology took place 25-30 June 2004 in Alghero, Italy.  Representing CNIPH, Dr Vera Katalinic-Jankovic and Mihaela Obrovac, Biochem E, delivered a paper on the subject “Drug-resistant tuberculosis: 10 years of surveillance in Croatia”.  Congress work unfolded through the sections dealing with mycobacterial resistance to antituberculars, new prospects for the diagnostics of mycobacterial diseases linked with the biology of M. tuberculosis and with modern tuberculosis control strategies. It put special emphasis on molecular epidemiology and its contribution to the philogenetic development of the Mycobacterium genus.   Many studies and projects devoted to the genetic diversity of M. tuberculosis are based on a combination of the PCR methods that have enabled (i) the clustering of isolates (ii) determination of tuberculosis transmission routes (iii) identification of organisms as belonging to certain large philogenetic regions and M. tuberculosis families, such as the Haarlem, Bejing, LAM (Latin American and Mediterranean) or EAI (East African‑Indian) families.  Two things also shown by molecular biology methods are that the presence of a M. tuberculosis population in the human body is a dynamic process and that the subclones of M. tuberculosis showing resistance to antituberculars change.

HEALTH ECOLOGY SERVICE
- Head, Krunoslav Capak, MD, MSc

The Second Subregional Workshop on “Elaboration of a National Strategy for Food Safety” took place on Brijuni Islands 5-July 2004.  It was organised by WHO/EURO and FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations).  The WHO Liaison Office for Croatia and CNIPH provided organisational assistance.  This was a follow‑up on the last year’s subregional Workshop on Food Policy and Legislation.  It was attended by representatives of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, Moldavia, Serbia and Montenegro.  Representatives and lecturers came from WHO, FAO, Slovenia, Ireland, Great Britain and Denmark.  Group activity consisted in formulating main topics in writing the agenda for the National Strategy.  Following the writing of each agenda topic, one member of the group would present what has been accomplished answering the questions raised by other groups.  This process produced a very clear approach to, procedure and the writing pattern of the National Strategy for taking account of each country’s specific characteristics.  Croatia’s representatives were Krunoslav Capak, MSc and Marijan Katalenic, MSc from CNIPH.

Held on Brijuni on 8 July was the Second Technical Workshop of SEE Nutrition Project organised by Nutrition Physiology, Monitoring and Advancement Department in collaboration with the WHO Liaison Officer, Assistant Professor A. Kaic-Rak and with Dr Aileen Robertson, nutritional adviser from the WHO Regional Office for Europe in Copenhagen.  It debated the collaboration between the countries of South-East Europe on individual food‑ and nutrition‑related projects. Also attending were national commissioners for nutrition of the countries mentioned at the previous workshop.  Our attending institute staff included the national commissioner for the advancement of nutrition Katica Antonic Degac, MSc, Krunoslav Capak, MSc and Dr Zrinka Petrovic (as rapporteur for WHO).  National action plans promoting nutrition and the results of their implementation were presented individually.  The debate emphasised the importance of inter-ministerial collaboration, also noting that most countries had a national food and nutrition council and a joint professional body.  Dr A. Robertson and Dr Maria Haralanova from WHO/EURO expressed their satisfaction with the results achieved and offered continued assistance and support to future activities.  They also informed the attendees about the WHO plans and ability to finance individual projects via CARDS and other funds.

The following day (9 July), a working group from Croatia met to consider a draft bill for a “National Nutrition Action Plan for 2006-2010” prepared by CNIPH’s Health Ecology Service experts jointly with the WHO Liaison Officer for Croatia.  Deputy general manager, Professor Marija Strnad and Katica Degac, MSc have opened the meeting.  Also attending for CNIPH were Krunoslav Capak, MD, MSc and Dr Zrinka Petrovic.  Mr. Ivo Afric, deputy minister of health and social welfare, Anica Hunjet, MSc, from the ministry of science, education and sport, Inge Heim, ScD, Academy of Medical Sciences of Croatia Committee on Nutrition secretary, and Assistant Professor Antoinette Kaic-Rak have expressed welcome to the gathering.  In the opening speech, Dr A. Robertson stressed her fruitful cooperation of a 12-year standing with the experts of Nutrition Department, CNIPH.  In addition to the participants referred to, participants in the debate included Jasna Pucarin, MSc, from Andrija Stampar School of Public Health, Inge Kesner‑Koren, MSc from the Lura food industry grouping, and Pr Branislava Belovic, MSc.  Minor additions to the draft were put forward, with, also, emphasis on the need to establish a National Food and Nutrition Council.  The final proposal related to having the Nutritional Action Plan adopted within the Health Strategy.