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believed to be HIV antibody positive) and how sufferers, includingchildren, are rejected by the extended family; and the effects of waron the population of the Lebanon, where recent fighting andbombing is a major cause of disability in one of the poorest countriesof the globe.The International Child Health Group is open to all health workers, not

just paediatricians. For details of membership write to Dr Michael Chan,Department of Tropical Paediatrics, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine,Pembroke Place, Liverpool.

Foundation for AIDS Counselling, Treatment, andSupport (FACTS)FACTS is a new AIDS charity established to offer medical

treatment in addition to counselling and support. AIDS patientsheed access to doctors experienced in the diagnosis and care of rareconditions including Kaposi’s sarcoma and Pneurmocystis cariniipneumonia. FACTS will help AIDS patients make the best use ofNHS facilities and offer referral where appropriate. The charity willliaise with established centres of care, train general practitioners todiagnose and treat HIV infection, and coordinate with other groupssuch as the Terrence Higgins Trust. Dr Andrew Heley, a generalpractitioner in North London, has founded FACTS1 following thesuccess of his self-help group, which provided support for patientsin fighting both the stigma and the prognosis of AIDS. Dr CharlesFarthing, St Mary’s Hospital, London, who is a director of

FACTS, has observed that the charity will "pioneer proper GP careof AIDs patients".

Coronary Heart Disease in Asians

A report2 produced jointly by the Coronary Prevention Groupand the Health Education Authority recommends that the Asiancommunity in Britain should be specifically targeted as part of theLook After Your Heart campaign. Some of the highest rates ofdeath from coronary heart disease in the British population arefound among the Asian community and their omission from theinitial campaign strategy document must be rectified. The mosteffective way of extending the LAYH campaign into this high riskgroup is to involve Asian people in the planning, implementation,management, and evaluation of initiatives.

Medical Practitioners Union

The MPU has sent a message of support to the nurses in NorthManchester who staged a recent 24-hour strike. The message reads:"The ethic of service to patients which the medical and nursingprofessions share is not discharged by merely struggling to cope indeteriorating circumstances. The point is reached at which it is onlyethical to cope if coping is combined with protest. It is very difficultto balance the conflict between the needs of immediate patient careand the need to preserve the system which makes patient carepossible. But we are confident that history will judge that in 1988those doctors and nurses who protested discharged the

responsibilities of their profession more fully than those who didnot".

Wolf Foundation Prize in Medicine

Prof Henri-Gery Hers (Catholic University of Louvain,Brussels) and Prof Elizabeth Neufeld (University of California LosAngeles School of Medicine) have been awarded jointly the 1988Wolf Foundation prize for the biochemical elucidation of lysosomalstorage diseases.

University of Manchester

Sir David Weatherhall, Nuffield professor of clinical medicine,University of Oxford, has been awarded an honorary D Sc.

1. FACTS. 01-340 6083

2 Heart-Health and Asians in Britain Report of a workshop organised by the HEA andCPG Available from the HEA, 78 New Oxford Street, London WC1A 1AH

A meeting entitled Current Controversies in Fracture Treatment isto take place at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh on Tuesday, Feb2: Clerk, Royal College of Surgeons, Nicolson Street, Edinburgh EH8 9DW.

A symposium entitled Clinical Oncology-Malignant Bone and SoftTissue Tumours in Adults is to take place at the Royal Institute of BritishArchitects, London Wl, on Feb 12-13: Conference Officer, Royal College ofRadiologists, 38 Portland Place, London WIN 3DG (01 636 4432).

A course entitled Doctors in Management-Defining a Role will beheld on the Isle of Wight on Feb 12-14: Dr D. W. Hide, PostgraduateMedical Centre, St Mary’s Hospital, Newport, Isle of Wight P030 5TG(0983 524081).

A conference on Obstetrics and Gynaecology-A Speciality forWomen will take place at the Royal Society of Medicine, London Wl, onSaturday, Feb 13: Women in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 58 Pymers Mead,Croxted Road, London SE21 8NH.

A meeting on Functional Insights from Magnetic Resonance will beheld at the University College and Middlesex School of Medicine, LondonWl, on Wednesday, Feb 17: Conference Office, British Institute of

Radiology, 36 Portland Place, London WIN 4AT (01 580 4085).

A meeting entitled The Nature and Antecedents of Perinatal

Morbidity and Mortality will take place at the Royal College ofObstetricians and Gynaecologists, London NW1, on Wednesday, Feb 17:Beryl Stevens, Postgraduate Education Secretary, Royal College ofObstetricians and Gynaecologists, 27 Sussex Place, Regent’s Park, LondonNW1 4RG (O1 262 5425).

A meeting on Fit for Anything-Comparative Aspects of Fitnessand Training is to be held at the Royal Society of Medicine, London W1, onWednesday, Feb 17: Miss Judy Cook, Sections Office, Royal Society ofMedicine, 1 Wimpole Street, London W1M 8AE (01 408 2119).

A meeting entitled The Epidemiology and Ecology of InfectiousDisease Agents will take place at The Royal Society, London SW1, on Feb17-18: Executive Secretary, The Royal Society, 6 Carlton House Terrace,London SW1Y 5AG (01 839 5561).

Diary of the Week

JAN 31 TO FEB 6

Monday, 1stST GEORGE’S HOSPITAL MEDICAL SCHOOL, Cranmer Terrace, London

SW17 ORE12.30 pm Dr I Findley. Pre-operative Assessment.

Tuesday, 2ndDURHAM POSTGRADUATE MEDICAL CENTRE, Drybum Hospital, Durham

1-15 pm Dr M. A. Harmson. The Employment Medical Advisory Service.NINEWELLS HOSPITAL AND MEDICAL SCHOOL, Dundee DD1 9SY

1 pm Dr E. Russell. Primary Health Care--Implications of the White Paper.

Wednesday, 3rdINSTITUTE OF ORTHOPAEDICS, Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, 45-51

Bolsover Street, London W1P 8AQ6 pm Mr J. I L Bayley: Management of Shoulder Injuries.7 pm Mr F Burke: Priorities in Management of Hand Injunes.

ASSURANCE MEDICAL SOCIETY, 11 Chandos Street, London Wl5 pm Prof H. P. Lambert: The Future of Immuntzanon.

NINEWELLS HOSPITAL AND MEDICAL SCHOOL1 pm Dr I. A. Hughes: Congenital Endocrine Disorders7.45 pm Prof C. D. Forbes: AIDS 88-An Update.

Thursday, 4thSOUTHMEAD CENTRE FOR MEDICAL EDUCATION, Southmead Hospital,

Bn’tol.BSI0 5NB1.10 pm Dr K. Morgan- The Data Protection Act as it Affects all ChmC1ans.

Friday, SthCARDIOTHORACIC INSTITUTE, Fulham Road, London SW3 6HP

8 am Dr M. Thomas and Prof H. Lambert: Pertussis-Pathogenicity, Immumty andSequelae.

Saturday, 6thNUFFIELD ORTHOPAEDIC CENTRE, Headington, Oxford

8.30 am Prof R. Howlett (New South Wales) The Adhesion of Human Bone Cells to’ Ion Implanted Prosthetic Materials.9.30 am Dr D. Ayres: Biochemical Studies of the Aetiology of Jomt Replacement