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Highlights
backward glance 2008 
The
New Year is an occasion when people look back at some of the things that they
have done in the past year to gain a sense of accomplishment and purpose for
the future. The WHO Thailand website team will be doing this over the course
of January 2009, glancing back at some of the work the Country Office and the
CSR Subunit have been engaged in. We will be starting with the latter and
hope that this would provide readers with a glimpse into the type of
invaluable work the WHO has been doing to improve health care in Member
States.
The World Health
Organization’s South-East Asia Regional Subunit for Communicable Disease
Surveillance and Response in Thailand
In
addition to the WHO Country Office for Thailand,
the South-East Asia Regional Office of WHO (SEARO) also has a small regional
Subunit for Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response based in the
Ministry of Public Health, Thailand
in Nonthaburi. The work of this office is
principally concerned with building regional capacity to prepare for, detect
and respond to infectious disease outbreaks. One example of the work this
office completed in 2008 is given below:
Development of case
studies for a training module on outbreak investigation
In July 2007, a workshop on the
“Development of a Surveillance and Rapid Response Team (SRRT) Training
Curriculum for Local Level” was held by the Ayeyawady-Chao
Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) in Thailand. At
this workshop, the participants requested WHO assistance in the development
of training materials more contextualised to the
local situation, including “case studies” of real outbreaks that had occurred
in Mekong Region countries. The concept of a case study is that training on
how to investigate an outbreak of infectious illness can be helped by walking
the trainees through a “real life” example of how a successful investigation
has been done in the past.
Subsequently two workshops were
held in which public health staff from representative countries worked with a
team of writers/mentors to present their experience of investigating and
responding to outbreaks in the region. A “step-by-step” process for outbreak
investigation was advocated to facilitate a structured approach to developing
draft materials. Participants to this first workshop were then supported by
WHO and US-CDC staff in-country to enrich the case studies before presenting
them for review at a second workshop in February 2008. A group of WHO/US-CDC
epidemiologists from the concerned countries then assisted in the final
revision of the case studies for publication.
Four case studies were produced:
Acute Watery Diarrhea in Sekong Province, Lao PDR;
A case of Acute Watery Diarrhea: Rui Liu City,
Yunnan Province, China; Avian Influenza: Human Case cross-border Experience,
Lao PDR – Thailand; and Diarrhea Outbreak: Phia-Ka
Village, Cham-Phone District, Savannakhet, Lao PDR.
The process employed in the workshop allowed participants to learn the method
of writing case studies, but also to share their experiences in conducting
outbreak investigations with workshop participants from other countries. The
direct involvement of local field epidemiologists in producing learning
materials for outbreak investigation and response is considered to be a
milestone in the regional development of training in field epidemiology.
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Avian Influenza
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Meetings/Seminars
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· Documents for Preparation of
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Games 
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Dr Prat
Boonyawongvirot
(left),
Permanent Secretary for Public
Health, receives the honourary plaque from
Dr Samlee Plianbangchang (right),
WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia.
Standing behind are Dr Maureen Birmingham, WHO Representative to Thailand and Dr Paijit Warachit, Deputy
Permanent Secretary.
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Throughout his outstanding career spanning over the past three
decades, Dr Prat Boonyawongvirot,
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Public Health, has developed many innovative
programmes that have contributed greatly to
improving the care of mental health patients in Thailand. Many of these programmes have also served as models and were adapted
for use in the region, making him a leading figure in the field in South-east Asia.
To recognise his invaluable
contributions, WHO presented Dr Prat with a plaque and citation on 9 December 2008 in Bangkok. Joining Dr Samlee Plianbangchang, WHO Regional Director
for South-East Asia, in presenting the plaque and citation were Dr Maureen
Birmingham, WHO Representative to Thailand, and staff members of
the WHO country office. Several senior
Thai officials were also present at the ceremony held at the Ministry of
Public Health.
Among Dr Prat’s
projects to improve mental health services are those on mental health
capacity development, community mental health development using monks as counsellors, and a network of mental health services from
the community level to provincial hospitals. Thanks to his efforts, over 1.3
million mental health sufferers have been able to gain access to treatment.
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Health
is a fundamental human right
On 10
December 2008 the Universal Declaration of Human Rights turned 60 years old.
As the first universal
statement on the basic principles of inalienable human rights, the
declaration has certainly withstood the test of time. It has as much
relevance to our lives today as it did when it emerged from the ruins of
World War II. Its universal values transcend cultures and values. The
declaration has become a common standard of achievement for all peoples and
all nations.
Since human
rights encompass all aspects of our existence, health is of course one of its
key facets. Every country in the world is now party to at least one human
rights treaty that addresses health-related rights, including the right to
health and a number of rights related to conditions necessary for health.
WHO is actively
strengthening its role in providing technical, intellectual and political
leadership in the field of health and human rights.
Its objectives are to support governments to integrate a human rights-based
approach in health development, strengthen WHO’s capacity to integrate a human rights-based
approach in its work, and advance the right to health in international law
and international development processes.
RELATED LINKS
o WHO and human rights
o Overview of health and human rights
o Health and Human Rights
Linkages
o Video: HEALTH – MY RIGHT
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Title
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Venue
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Start Date
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End Date
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The Regional Consultation on
Self Care in the
context of Primary Health Care
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Bangkok,
Ambassador Hotel
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07 Jan 2009
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09 Jan 2009
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‘Harm Reduction 2009’
The
International Harm Reduction Association’s (IHRA) 20th International
Conference
will be held at the Queen Sirikit National
Convention Centre
in Bangkok,
Thailand from
19-23 April 2009
Click here for more information
For list of upcoming activities, please click here.
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