The Information and Reference Center was established in April １９９７．The center provides necessary information and references related to tropical diseases to all the staff, graduate students, researchers and trainees, as well as members of the public who visit the Institute. Currently available at the center are books, maps, periodicals, pamphlets, films, videocassette tapes, photo slides, photographs, charts, exhibition panels, animal specimens as well as pathological tissues specimens. These materials are now being digitized and are provided to the public through cyberspace. The center also gathers scientific, social economic and cultural information related to tropical diseases.
　　　The center carries out eco‐epidemiological studies on tropical diseases to project the future of tropical infectious diseases from both local and global perspective. Taxonomy and ecology of vector insects and mites of infectious diseases are also the research subjects of the center.