More than 100 experts from the U.S., Japan, Australia, Cambodia, Indonesia and the Philippines gathered at an international seminar in Vietnam’s capital city of Hanoi on Sept 9 to seek measures against infectious diseases in the Southeast Asian region. The seminar was co-held by the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Vietnam’s National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said. The two-day conference focused on sharing experiences in preventing and treating infectious diseases that are spread by virus from insects and animals as well as mitigating effects of the diseases in the region. Tien added that nearly 30 scientific reports on the causes of the diseases and factors such as climate change and people’s hobbies that are likely to quicken the diseases’ spread were presented during the event. The experts also warned of the rising number of infectious viral diseases, including the SARS epidemic, A/H1N1 influenza, malaria, dengue fever and Japanese encephalitis. In mid-Aug, the Vietnamese Prime Minister approved the second phase of a project on infectious disease prevention for Mekong Sub-region countries which the Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded $27 million. (vietnamplus.vn Sept 9, anninhthudo.vn)
