The 13^th Congress of Croatian Family Medicine Association was held on 1‑3 June in Osijek.  Its main technical subject was nephrologic diseases and urologic problems tackled at family doctor’s clinic.  Also included in Congress Proceedings was a report on the National Programme of Cancer Prevention and Early Detection in Croatia by editors M Samija, M. Strnad, Y. Ebling, L. Kovacic, and A. Znaor.  Among others director of CNIPH Pr Zeljko Baklaic, MSc, greeted the gathering.

To mark the completion of the project “Ways to Employment for Disabled” a press conference was given on 14 June in Croatian Union of Societies for Physically Disabled.  Two leaflets were the subjects presented.  One, designed for employers, provides the information on how and why to employ a disabled person.  It is entitled “Arguments for Employing the Disabled”.  The other leaflet is designed for disabled and it contains the necessary information on the process of education and employment.  It is titled “Getting a job is possible!”

Representatives of the Croatian Union of Societies for Physically Disabled; Croatian Employment Administration; Faculty of Educational Rehabilitation; Faculty of Law; Croatian Association of Employers; Ministry of Economy, Work and Entrepreneurship, and of the CNIPH Disability Prevention Department (Professor Marija Strnad and Dr T. Benjak) have participated in the theoretical organisation and production of the leaflet.

CHRONIC MASS DISEASE EPIDEMIOLOGY DEPARTMENT
- Head, Pr Vlasta Hrabak-Zerjavic, MD, MSc

A press conference took place at CNIPH on 13 June to mark the presentation of the award to the winner of the Quit & Win competition.  Mr Srdan Cargonja, who had confirmed his 4‑week abstention from smoking by his written statement, testimonies and a biochemical test was drawn a winner.  The firm Pfizer–Croatia d.o.o, ensured a prize worth 10,000 kunas.

The Second European Conference of National Injury and Violence Commissioners organised by WHO and attended by Dr Ivana Brkic took place on 23‑24 June in Salzburg.  It aimed at strengthening further development of the ‘network of commissioners’ in the area of injury and violence, with joint work on marking the World Traffic Safety Week being agreed (April 2007).  The Conference was preceded by Course on Capacity Strengthening in the Area of Injury and Violence (Salzburg 22‑23 June) at which the teaching and discussion were based on the manual “Teach VIP” published by WHO.  Through lectures and debate, every important area of the public health problem of injury and violence was reviewed (data collection and analysis, monitoring and prevention, prevention by developing preventive programmes, programme evaluation, multidisciplinary approach to the prevention of injury and violence, advocating cooperation with the media).  The First European Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion was organised by EuroSafe in Vienna on 25‑27 June.  The formal subject of the Conference was “Challenges and Guidelines for Safer Europe” and Dr I. Brkic attended as the national commissioner for the prevention of injury and violence.  To list the main goals of the Conference: giving the injury problem greater prominence in public‑health political decision‑making in Europe, emphasising the benefits for the entire society achievable through a reduction in the number of injuries and their consequences, advancing the examples of good practice, i.e., successful prevention programmes, and backing anyone active in this field.

SOCIAL MEDICINE SERVICE

- Head, Pr Urelija Rodin, MD, MSc

Within the PHARE Multi‑Country Statistical Integration Programme the ICON Institute from Germany had organised a seminar on furthering the quality of mortality statistics named “Certification Problems in Mortality Statistics” and taking place on 12‑14 June at Bled, Slovenia.  The Seminar covered the four most important segments of mortality statistics affecting the quality of cause‑of‑death data: data quality, data supplementation method, and death certificate completion method.  These areas were also presented prefatorily as invited lectures.  One of these–mortality statistics in Croatia–was given by Dr Tanja Coric who reviewed the problems of certification (“Mortality Statistics in Croatia: Certification Problems”).  In conclusion, the Seminar passed conclusions and recommendations that should be applied by the states attending this gathering in order to improve the quality of their mortality statistics data.  

ADDICTION PREVENTION SERVICE

- Acting head, Pr Marina Kuzman, MD, ScD

The opening of a refurbished Centre for Addiction Prevention in Mirogojska 16, Zagreb, and taking place on 26 June in Zagreb Institute of Public Health marked the International Drug Control Day.  The event was preceded by a technical gathering, attended by Pr Marina Kuzman, ScD, who informed the conferees about the social and medical aspects of addiction, and by Dr Mirjana Orban who presented the findings of a survey on drug abuse among the adolescents in Zagreb City; Darko Dundovic, MSc, described the state of drug crime. 

Organised by the Ministry of Justice, i.e. Prison System Administration, and by CNIPH, a Round Table Conference on the topic “Psychoactive drug addicts after serving their term” was held on 28 June 2006 at the District Prison Zagreb.  Some 50-addiction control professionals attended the Conference from the health, prison administrative and justice systems (physicians, psychologists, social workers, prosecuting attorneys, rehabilitators).  Dr Lars Moller, who presented the experience of European countries with the treatment in prison of drug addicts, was the coordinator of the WHO’s “Health in Prison” project; he also discussed the importance of post penal accommodation.  He emphasized that the death from drug overdose upon discharge from prison poses a big problem in most countries, especially those with no substitute therapy available in prison.  Most cases are unintentional and occurring within two weeks of the discharge.  There was a debate on the experience of providing treatment to drug addicts in the prison system, and on the possibilities of equalizing the procedures during the serving of a conditional sentence is served and upon discharge from prison.  The reports by prosecuting attorneys dealt with their working experience.  A degree of stress was also placed on the great role of centres for addiction prevention and outpatient treatment, both during a prison term and after a sentence has been served.  Pr M. Kuzman, ScD, closed the Conference on a note of perceived need for setting up a working group to consist of judicial system, health and social welfare experts.  It would be assigned a charge of passing draft guidelines for post penal approach to drug addicts, i.e., a multidisciplinary approach to the problem of accommodation and resocialisation of drug addicts after leaving prison.  After the Conference, a visit was organised to a prison hospital where the conferees became familiar with work‑related specifics and problems. 

European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, EMCDDA, is starting a new project “Preparing Croatia and Turkey for Participation in EMCDDA”.  Supported financially within the Phare programme for Croatia’s participation in EU agencies, it began in June 2006 and is planned to take up 18 months.  The main objects of the Project are the preparation for participation in the EMCDDA activity, and the establishment of structural links with a network of national clearinghouses for drugs (National Focal Points) in the EU (REITOX).  From 19‑21 June an EMCDDA delegation visited Croatia with the aim of assessing the situation and determining the activities that need completing in the next 18 months in order for Croatia to prepare optimally and thoroughly for participation in the workings of EMCDDA.  As its basic set essential for assessing the situation in the drugs area and drug dependency in a given population, EMCDDA has developed a system of five epidemiological indicators: drug use in the general population, problematic drug use, drug use‑related infectious diseases and drug use mortality, as well as demand for treatment.  Another aim of the visit being to familiarise and start collaboration with relevant experts and include them in the activity and meetings of corresponding EU expert groups, in those three days the EMCDDA delegation had talks at CNIPH with the carriers of the above five areas (Pr Marina Kuzman, Dr Dragica Katalnic, Professor Ira Gjenero‑Margan and Dr Tanja Coric).  One member of the delegation, Mrs. Jennifer Hillebrand, agreed to give an interview to “Hrvatski časopis za javno zdravstvo” (Croatian Public Health Review).  Among other points, she stressed that the strongest point in the whole process was the existence of a remarkable data collection system, particularly in CNIPH.  She noted as particularly favourable Croatia’s continuous participation in the ESPAD project, which is accepted as EMCDDA’s official research of drug use among the young population.  She found the fact that a national focal point for drugs, to be situated in the Government Office for Control of Drug Abuse, has not been established yet to be the greatest weakness.

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

A Zagreb University Medical School doctoral degree course “Viral Infections of the Respiratory System” run by Professor Gordana Mlinaric‑Galinovic took place at CNIPH on 22 May‑1 June 2006.  Five members of the CNIPH staff delivered lectures there.  They were Prof. Dr G. Gordana Mlinaric‑Galinovic (“Viruses as the agents of respiratory infections and their diagnostics”); Dr V. Drazenovic (“Biologic properties and diagnosis of viral infections”); Prof. Dr Ira Gjenero Margan (“Epidemiology of respiratory virus infections”); T. Vilibic Cavlek, MSc, MD (“Serologic diagnosis of respiratory virus infections”); S. Ljubin Sternak, MD (“Isolation and detection of respiratory viruses”).   

On 12 June, Croatian Medical Association’s Rijeka Chapter, Croatian Microbiological Society’s Jadran Chapter, and the Primorsko‑Goranska County’s Public Health Teaching Institute organised a conference on tuberculosis at the Rijeka Faculty of Medicine.  It was attended by Dr Vera Katalinic‑Jankovic with a lecture “Recommended standards for modern TB laboratories in Europe”.

A project titled “Improving TB monitoring in Croatia - educational programme for medical lung specialists, general practitioners and other medical staff” was completed at the end of June.  Working on this project that ran for three and a half years were the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Jordanovac Pulmonary Disease Clinic, and Open Croatia Institute.  Lecturers designed for nurses, lung specialists, paediatricians and general practitioners were financed from it.  They had taken place in the Koprivničko-Križevačka County, Brodsko‑Posavska County, and in Zagreb City.  Dr V. Katalnic‑Jankovic, who was also an expert team member on the project, participated on behalf of our Service in a lecturer capacity.