GMS-CDC

Vientiane, 21 October 2009.- H.E. Dr Bounkouang  Pichit, Vice-Minister for Health opened today the “First GMS CDC Technical Forum on Control and Elimination of Parasitic Diseases in the Mekong Sub-region” taking place from 21-22 October 2009, at the Don Chan palace hotel in Vientiane Capital, Lao PDR.

The 2-day event gathers experts on parasitic diseases from Cambodia, China, Lao PDR, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, as well as from the World Health Organization (WHO), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and other International Organizations and donors such as the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases, Sabin Vaccine Institute, The Center for Neglected Tropical Diseases of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine/Global Alliance to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis, and USAID.    

During the event experts will review the global, regional and respective country situations on Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) and discuss opportunities to scale up control strategies and inter-country cooperation. They will discuss coordination of efforts and collaborative research, notably at border areas, seeking practical solutions. Participants will also discuss how to reach remote populations, exchange lessons learnt, and explore options for improvement. They will review various existing strategies to treat infected populations and -- more importantly -- how to educate populations to prevent parasites infections. Professionals will also examine options for a most cost-effective and efficient monitoring of their actions, and devise future plans.

The event will end on 22 October afternoon by an exchange between programme managers, researchers and donors during which future collaboration will be examined.
Detailed output of the event will be shared with all concerned authorities and professionals and will be posted in the ADB GMS CDC (www.gms-cdc.org).  

The event, hosted by Lao PDR, is co-organized by the Center of Malariology, Parasitology and Entomology with support from the Regional Coordination Unit of the ADB GMS CDC project, and was sponsored by the regional Pooled Fund of the ADB GMS CDC project.