Dear Editor,
A short note to reflect on Dr. Lloyd Validum, whom I learnt died yesterday in Guyana. After arrival from Cuba as a Doctor in Medicine, he subsequently proceeded to Venezuela to study Malariology. On his return to Guyana he worked at the Vector Control Department of the Ministry of Health and subsequently became head of the Ministry’s Malaria Unit at the Georgetown Hospital. He then proceeded to work at the Woodlands Hospital in malaria and other health conditions. He was one of the first persons who promoted the use of impregnated mosquito nets and rapid diagnostic tests for the prevention and detection of malaria among the gold mining population and others at risk of the disease in Guyana. Coincidence is that we, who continue working against malaria, recognize today, 25 April, a day after his death, as World Malaria Day. We shall continue efforts to eliminate malaria in the Americas, a goal for which you strove. Rest calmly my dear colleague, your efforts will not be in vain.
Sincerely,
Keith H. Carter, MD
