History

A start was made in 1970

The establishment of the Association of Institutes for Tropical Veterinary Medicine (AITVM) was an initiative in the early 1970s of the heads of the departments of the main tropical departments and institutes in Europe. These institutes were established for the training of national veterinarians for service in the tropical countries and to execute projects in these areas, often in collaboration with newly established veterinary faculties at universities in Africa. Those who took this initiative were based at the University of Edinburgh (UK), Prins Leopold Institute for Tropical Medicine in Antwerp (Belgium), IEMVT in Maisons Alfort (France), University of Utrecht (The Netherlands) and the Free University Berlin(West Germany). The ‘founding fathers’ of the association in those days were Sir Prof. Alexander Robertson, Prof. Jos Mortelmans, Prof. A. Provost, Prof. Dik Zwart and Prof. Jurgen E. Huhn.

The AITVM Standing Committee

Those who had taken the initiative to establish the AITVM in the seventies formed the first Standing Committee. During the next 30 years the Standing Committee remained the only body of the Association. New members entered the Standing Committee on specific occasions, like when an institute organised an AITVM Conference. In the eighties the Standing Committee was extended with members from veterinary esthablishments in Africa and Asia like the Director of the Ecole Inter-Etats Des Sciences et Medecine Veterinaires (EISMV) at Dakar Senegal and the Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Malaysia. In due cause the founding members retired and were succeeded by new members from the same institutes. Later, in the nineties, more persons from Europe (Lisbon, Milan, Copenhagen) and Africa (Zimbabwe, South Africa) became members of the Standing Committee.

In 2000 AITVM became a Foundation

In 2000 the AITVM became a legal foundation of 12 member institutions, under the Netherlands law. The 12 representatives of these institutions formed the first legal board (Standing Committee) of the foundation AITVM. Since 2000 the membership of AITVM is open to all faculties, institutes and department working on education and research in tropical animal health and production. In 2004 AITVM had 19 member institutions

AITVM International conferences

The 3-yearly organisation of an international conference on animal health and production in the tropics has been the main activity of the AITVM. The emphasis has always been on an integrated approach of bringing together animal health and animal production specialists, as well as junior scientists from the North and the South. The conference venue was alternated between the North and the South.

1st   Conference 1973 Edinburgh, Scotland (UK)
2nd  Conference 1976 Berlin, West Germany
3rd   Conference 1980 Nairobi, Kenya
4th   Conference 1983 Gainesville, USA
5th   Conference 1986 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
6th   Conference 1989 Wageningen, The Netherlands
7th   Conference 1992 Yamassukro, Ivory Coast
8th   Conference 1995 Berlin, Germany
9th   Conference 1998 Harare, Zimbabwe
10th Conference 2001 Copenhagen, Denmark
11th Conference 2004 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
12th Conference 2007 Montpellier, France
13th Conference 2010 Bangkok, Thailand
14th Conference 2013 Pretoria, South Africa