Background information

History

In 1906, King Leopold II founded a 'School for Tropical Illnesses’ to train doctors and nurses for the Congo Free State, which was still his personal property at the time. It was housed in a large old mansion in Brussels (photo). During that same decade, England, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal also set up ‘tropical institutes.’ In 1933, the school – now property of the state – merged with the ‘King Leopold II Hospital for Tropical Illnesses’ and moved to its present home in the characteristic Art Deco buildings in Antwerp, located a stone’s throw from the Congo docks – entry point of all illnesses brought back from the Tropics. From now on, we would be called the 'Prince Leopold Institute of Tropical Medicine’, or 'Institute of Tropical Medicine' in short.

Although improving public health was a major focus of the Belgians in the colony, the ITM barely had any contact with the field in those early days – traveling was so much more difficult then. We served mainly as an educational institution for people leaving for the Tropics and as a hospital for those returning. Most professors were retired colonists.

After the decolonization in 1960, the ITM became a specialized division of the Belgian system of higher education. The colonists were replaced by cooperants. In 1964, we expanded our programmes to include tropical veterinary medicine and, in 1969, a Master in Public Health was added. The student body was becoming increasingly international and the staff did teaching stints in various developing countries.

An academic institution worthy of its name has to be engaged in scientific research. In the seventies, our research component began to grow rapidly and much more research was done on site in the developing countries. This naturally led to medical assistance and collaboration with local researchers, institutions and government bodies. Our focus broadened beyond the treatment and prevention of illness and disease, to epidemiology and the organization of public health systems. The ITM knows all too well that, besides biological factors, there are socioeconomic determinants of ill health. 

Since their beginning, institutes for tropical medicine had to deal with sexually transmitted diseases (as many of their early patients were sailors suffering from both types of illnesses). And then, in the eighties, there was AIDS. Urged on by the likes of Peter Piot, who eventually became Director of UNAIDS, ITM researchers set to work, eventually discovering its African component. A good part of the foundation of current worldwide HIV/AIDS research was in fact laid down in Antwerp.

In 1988, the Belgian Ministry of Education became de-federalized. Since the ITM received its core financing from the Ministry and was located in Flanders, it became part of the academic landscape of Flanders, without a Francophone counterpart. However, to this day we continue to provide training to Francophone physicians and nurses and to work with federal entities – not out of nostalgia for the old Belgium, but as a component of our international, multilingual vision. From early on, the ITM has emphasized training and support for experts from developing countries, who are in charge of developing healthcare services or doing biomedical research there. In the eighties, we started an international ‘Maîtrise en Sciences Biomédicales Tropicales’, which in 1998 was converted into the ‘Master in Disease Control.’

In 1993, the ITM revamped its statutes, still dating back to the colonial era. Our interuniversity status was reinforced by having representatives of all the Flemish universities on the Board of Directors as well as three members from our international Scientific Advisory Board, who, by ‘gentlemen’s agreement,’ were chosen from the representatives of the Belgian Francophone universities on the SAB. The interuniversity status of the ITM was further strengthened when, in 1996, it signed partnership agreements with the Flemish universities regarding such matters as shared teaching resources, research and doctoral programmes.

Since 1997, the Ministries of Public Health and Social Affairs have formally recognized and financially supported the role of the ITM as a reference centre for tropical illnesses and HIV/AIDS.

In 1999, the Flemish government granted our Institute the status of ‘Public Interest Institution for Postgraduate Education, Scientific Research and the Provision of Services.’ The mutual expectations and obligations are set down in an agreement with the Ministry of Education. In exchange for core financing, the ITM must provide clear management plans and a guaranteed volume of educational programmes, as well as organize and accept internal and external quality control and collaboration with other universities and international institutions.

By the end of the century, the ITM had tripled its number of researchers and was bursting at the seams. When a 17th century convent was put up for sale across the street, we bought and converted it into an additional campus. Around the same time the veterinarians were also given their own campus.

Since 1998, the ITM has been signing framework agreements with the Directorate General for Development Cooperation, which provides funding for a number of research projects. Despite our core funding, we depend for most of our operations on project financing, own revenues and donations. In 2007, we signed an agreement with the government department of Science Policy, which entitles us to apply for research grants.
In 2006, we celebrated our Centennial Anniversary.

For most of its existence, the ITM has had an international reputation as a centre of excellence – a reputation it continues to deserve. But the ITM is so much more today. We are a junction in an international network of excellence that includes partner institutions all over the globe receiving assistance from us with their capacity building, while helping us in our fight against poverty-linked illnesses (a term which is unfortunately an apt synonym for ‘tropical illnesses’). Together we work for ‘Health Care for All’.