110 years of NVTG: From tropical medicine to global health

I first became a member of the NVTG in 1983. During the past 34 years, it never crossed my mind to give up my membership. When I lived in Africa, the NVTG provided me with a platform for sharing knowledge of my profession and my experiences in different countries, and it gave me insight into where in the world other members practiced their profession. In the pre-internet era, the annual, blue-covered membership list and the black and white hardcopy of Medicus Tropicus brought us this – very relevant – information by snail mail. Tropical doctors spent many hours reading them during long, dark nights abroad. Wherever you were and however far away, it made you feel somehow a bit closer to colleagues.

After coming back to the Netherlands in the second half of the 1990s as an International Public Health Doctor, I started to appreciate the platform function of the NVTG in another way. I was an active member of the ‘Health and Development’ working group, and we held bimonthly meetings, exchanging updates on our profession, and organized sessions during the annual NVTG Congress. I quickly realized that the working groups were the backbone of our organisation. Many motivated professionals in tropical medicine from several medical specialties organized themselves in working groups like the public health doctors’ group. The working groups facilitated the sharing of knowledge within the national and international ‘tropical health’ community. Many of the NVTG members from working groups contributed to the training of a new generation of doctors who wanted to work abroad.

In 2002, the name of the NVTG, although the acronym stayed the same, was changed to ‘Netherlands Society for Tropical Medicine and International Health’. The focus of the NVTG broadened from the tropical climate zone to equity, and from medicine to health. Poverty related diseases, the organization of health systems and services, and capacity building in countries were all put on the agenda. Health became a field for multidisciplinary action. Not only doctors and paramedics, but also social scientists and health economists were equally needed to resolve the inequity in health. The NVTG attracted non-doctors to become members, and although the majority of our members are still medical doctors, they have become a more diverse bunch. Young researchers with a variety of professional and educational backgrounds have found their way to the NVTG. The ‘tropical doctor’ is now called a ‘Medical Doctor in Global Health and Tropical Medicine’. The broad range of the work done in our Society will become visible during its 110th anniversary congress.

I experienced only one third of the lifetime of the NVTG. Before I joined, the Society had already existed for 55 years. The book by Leo van Bergen, Van Koloniale Geneeskunde tot Internationale Gezondheidszorg (From Colonial Medicine to International Health Care), published on the occasion of NVTG’s centenary celebrations, gives a rich overview of facts, developments and paradigm shifts over time in relation to Tropical Medicine and International Health. Leo van Bergen’s interpretation of global health trends in the past decade, written and presented for the occasion of our 110th anniversary, will add a further chapter to the history of the NVTG.

Currently, the NVTG has over 900 members. Many of them voluntarily invest a lot of energy in various NVTG activities. They make us visible – in the Netherlands and abroad – to the external professional world and to a wider audience. The NVTG acts in a continuously changing environment. For 110 years now, it has been a dynamic, committed and friendly community. I am convinced that the NVTG will not only adapt to global challenges but will also be able to initiate and accelerate changes, where and when needed.