Dear Colleagues,

It is my great pleasure to invite you to the 22nd Annual Meeting of European Society for Paediatrics, to be held on May 26-28, 2004 in Tampere, Finland. I truly believe ESPID 2004 will be a successful and memorable link in the long and ever growing chain of ESPID meetings.

This will be the second ESPID meeting in Finland. In granting the meeting, the Board of ESPID have no doubt considered the significant contribution of Finland to paediatric infectious disease as a science and a sub specialty in Europe and the strong role that Finnish members have had in ESPID ever since the establishment of the Society. Accordingly, the Local Scientific Committee has, in addition to members from Tampere, "grand old men" in paediatric infectious disease from all other university cities with medical faculty in Finland - Helsinki, Turku, Oulu and Kuopio.

Representing not only my own interests but also a research tradition in Finland, the main themes of the meeting have been selected as "Viral Infections in Children" and "Viral Vaccines". However, the program is by no means restrictive, and free papers on non-viral pathogens and other infections are warmly welcome. In fact, the 5 scientific sessions will be structured in a way that leaves ample room for selected oral presentations under each title.

On Friday afternoon there will be a Special Symposium on "Global Aspects of Control of Viral Diseases in Childhood by Vaccination". World-class speakers will address the control of poliomyelitis, measles, rubella, varicella, hepatitis B and rotavirus. It is my desire that the Symposium will increase the awareness of European paediatric infectious disease specialists to the magnitude of these problems and of Europe's position in the global endeavour for the elimination or eradication of each of the diseases.

Tampere will provide pleasant, yet professional, surroundings for the meeting. The meeting venue will be Tampere Hall, renowned as the best congress centre in Finland. The history of Tampere is strongly linked with the industrialization of Finland. Todays Tampere is a city of 200,000 inhabitants characterized by high technology (Nokia!), culture, and higher education. I hope you will enjoy Tampere during the meeting and, perhaps, other parts of Finland afterwards.

Welcome to Tampere!

Timo Vesikari
Chairman of the Local Scientific Committee