Activities of the RTIC
Training Service Research
TRAINING
The Suan Phung Field Station, managed by the Department of Tropical Hygiene of Mahidol University, has been conducting annual training courses even before the construction of the RTIC. Throughout the rise of the RTIC, The Regional Field-based Training in Epidemiology and Control of Tropical Diseases (ReFiT), now on its 3^rd year, has blended into the institution and now completely houses the said training.
The main objective of the ReFiT is to train the personnel in the public health and related fields so as to improve their skills in field work and research methods. Participants from Lao PDR, Vietnam, and Cambodia mostly attend the training as funded by EC-RMCP, SEAMEO-France, and SEAMEO-TROPMED.
Another major course regularly organized by the Faculty of Tropical Medicine is that of the School-based Malaria and Soil-Transmitted Helminthiasis Control for Programme Managers funded by Asian Centre of International Parasite Control (ACIPAC).
Aside from the above mentioned training courses, the RTIC also serves venue to meetings, conferences, and seminars. These simply exhibit the capacity and flexibility of the RTIC in hosting functions of this sort. The Rajanagarindra Conference Room serves as the venue for all these events while the Dormitory provides lodging for the participants.
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SERVICE
Another facet of the RTIC is the service that it provides to the people in the form of free diagnostic services of malaria and free medications such as antipyretics, antimalarials and anthelminthics.
The RTIC gets more than 10,000 visits per year coming from the villages in the Tanaosri subdistrict and other neighboring areas in Suan Phung district. The Research and Health Care Unit is where all these things are dealt with.
The clinic has a registration area where the staff gets the necessary information about the patient as well as the specimen. It is also where the important instructions and medications are given. The clinic has a large waiting area (inside and outside) where the patients and their companions can stay while they wait for the result of the examination.
Just beside the registration area is the laboratory where the blood specimens are processed and examined. The reagents and equipment needed for the diagnostic procedures as well as medicines are being kept in this area. Inside the clinic is an office where documentation, data processing, data analysis, reproduction of documents, record-keeping, etc. are accomplished.
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RESEARCH
Even before the construction of the RTIC, Suan Phung has been the study area of numerous research projects with focus on the further study of malaria and intestinal parasites in the region. Such projects include:
	1. The Malaria Research Project     a. Baseline study     b. Longitudinal study     c. Intervention study
	2. Baseline epidemiological and socio-behaviroal survey of malaria and     soil- transmitted helminthiasis. 3. Efficacy of anthelminthics in the treatment of intestinal helminth infections. 4. Genetics and Malaria. 5. Study on the life history of chigger mites in the laboratory. 6. Ecologic observation of Anopheline larvae vectors of malaria. 7. Nutritional status survey. 8. Study of spatial and temporal pattern of certain tropical diseases.
From the extensive Malaria Research Project, many studies have branched out which is why a sort of surveillance is in effect. As a result, a well-kept and maintained database on malaria exists. The Research and Health Care Unit serves as the station for the passive surveillance of malaria in Suan Phung. Being an endemic area for the disease, the residents within the area are well informed about malaria so those who experience some signs and symptoms immediately proceed to the RTIC for blood examination. If positive, appropriate medications and the instructions in taking them are given. If the examination results are negative, they will be given medications to relieve the symptoms. But more importantly, they will be instructed to return to the clinic immediately as soon as such symptoms recur.
Aside from malaria, intestinal parasites have also been a field of interest in Suan Phung. A wide-scale stool was done in several villages and the following parasites were seen:
	o Ascaris lumbricoides (roundworm) o Hookworm o Trichuris trichiura (whipworm) o Enterobius vermicularis (pinworm) o Taenia solium, Taenia saginata - taeniasis o Strongyloides stercoralis o Small intestinal flukes o Entamoeba histolytica o Giardia lamblia
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