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Preparing our Practitioners: CJTF-HOA Hosts Tropical Medicine Course

U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Stephen Fischer, a preventative medicine physician from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, speaks to other medical professionals at a Military Tropical Medicine Course organized by the Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa Surgeon Cell and the Navy Medicine Professional Development Center at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, Nov. 14, 2017. Medical professionals from across the U.S. military services, foreign militaries and local community joined together Nov. 14 to 16 to discuss challenges posed to medical personnel providing care for troops operating within the Horn of Africa and the East African region. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Allyson L. Manners)

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Photo by: Staff Sgt. Allyson Manners 

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Preparing our Practitioners: CJTF-HOA Hosts Tropical Medicine Course

A physician from the German army speaks to other medical professional at a Military Tropical Medicine Course organized by A physician from the German army speaks to other medical professional at a Military Tropical Medicine Course organized by the Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa Surgeon Cell and the Navy Medicine Professional Development Center at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, Nov. 14, 2017. Medical professionals from across the U.S. military services, foreign militaries and local community joined together Nov. 14 to 16 to discuss challenges posed to medical personnel providing care for troops operating within the Horn of Africa and the East African region. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Allyson L. Manners)

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Preparing our Practitioners: CJTF-HOA Hosts Tropical Medicine Course

U.S. Army Maj. Baruch Zobrist, Deputy Force Surgeon for the Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa Surgeon Cell, reviews information given during a Military Tropical Medicine Course hosted by the CJTF-HOA Surgeon Cell and the Navy Medicine Professional Development Center at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, Nov. 14, 2017. Medical professionals from across the U.S. military services, foreign militaries and local community joined together during the three-day course to discuss challenges posed to medical personnel providing care for troops operating within the Horn of Africa and the East African region. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Allyson L. Manners)

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Preparing our Practitioners: CJTF-HOA Hosts Tropical Medicine Course

Medical professionals from across the U.S. military services, foreign militaries and local community pose for a group photo during the Military Tropical Medicine Course at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, Nov. 16, 2017. The Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa Surgeon Cell collaborated with the Navy Medicine Professional Development Center to develop the three-day course, which discussed challenges posed to medical personnel providing care for troops operating within the Horn of Africa and the East African region. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Allyson L. Manners)

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Photo by: Staff Sgt. Allyson Manners 

Medical professionals from across the military services, foreign militaries and local community joined together to discuss challenges posed to medical personnel providing care for troops operating within the Horn of Africa and the East African region at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, Nov. 14 to 16, 2017.

Medical personnel from the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force, assigned to both Camp Lemonnier and the Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) Surgeon Cell, along with medical professionals from Djibouti and the German Army, collaborated with the Navy Medicine Professional Development Center (NMPDC) to share their knowledge and experience gained from their work in Africa and around the world during a three-day Military Tropical Medicine (MTM) course.

The MTM course was designed to educate and train physicians, nurses, medics, veterinarians and all other allied health professionals on a wide range of tropical medicine topics, including diagnostic and treatment measures for many of the infectious and communicable diseases common to the area. This could include malaria, hemorrhagic fevers, diarrheal diseases, vector-borne infections, HIV/AIDS, and tropical dermatology issues.

Ensuring medical providers within these regions have the proper knowledge and skillset to address all location-specific issues that may arise is an extremely important task, said U.S. Air Force Capt. Marilou Mote, Environmental Health Officer in the CJTF-HOA Surgeon Cell. "Knowing the risks can help them determine between illnesses that share some of the same symptoms, like the flu versus malaria."

As the most valuable asset of the military, members must be fit and healthy to perform in an ever-broadening scope of tasks in any location, each with its own set of challenges.

"The world is becoming more interconnected, in that our militaries are participating in more humanitarian, disaster relief and crisis-response missions," said U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Nehkonti Adams, Director of Military Tropical Medicine at the NMPDC. "Preparing our practitioners in cases of tropical medicine is essential to mission success. The program must involve providers across the services, and foreign militaries as well as civilian collaborators to succeed." 

The MTM course is given every six months at Camp Lemonnier, and medical professionals from all backgrounds and locations who share an interest or experience in tropical medicine are encouraged to apply. For more information on the course content please visit: