Areas of Work

Thailand’s Work Beyond Borders

            
WHO supports Thailand’s involvement in international health activities in seven areas:

1.      Knowledge-Sharing and Technical Expertise:  WHO supports Thailand in its participation in public health networks and technical panels as well as by facilitating the direct sharing of Thai technical expertise and experience with other countries.  This expertise is sometimes housed in various WHO Collaborative Centres and centres of excellence in Thailand. WHO Thailand also provides technical support and facilitates documentation and publication of Thailand’s achievements and experiences at the international level.

2.      Strengthening role and capacity in global health:   Thailand is very active Member State in the World Health Assembly.   It pro-actively helps prepare its own government staff, civil society, media, and academic colleagues through technical preparation for specific agenda items of the World Health Assembly and also through training workshops on general global health issues and global health diplomacy.   Thailand collaborates with WHO by taking a lead role in training other countries of the WHO South East Asia Region on global health diplomacy.

3.      Multi-country Activities:  Multi-country activities (MCAs) are programmes where two or more WHO country offices in the Region collaborate for a specific health issue.  In recent years, MCAs have focused on health system development, universal health coverage, injury surveillance/prevention, TB prevalence surveys, tobacco control, case management of dengue haemorrhagic fever and shock syndrome, among many others. 

4.      Thailand’s Support for WHO Programmes:  Thailand sometimes supports specific programmes in WHO.  For example, a memorandum of understanding was established between ThaiHealth and WHO to support the global non-communicable diseases strategy.

5.     International Conferences organized by the Royal Thai Government:  In addition to the many WHO and other international health meetings hosted by Thailand every year, Thailand also takes the lead in organizing international conferences aimed at influencing and enhancing international health movements and knowledge-sharing.  WHO may facilitate Thailand’s leadership role by providing advice, participation in planning, co-hosting and/or technical involvement during the conference.  One example is the annual Prince Mahidol Award Conference, which highlights exemplary contributions to the advancement of medical, public health, and human services. Other international conferences have been held on health impact assessments, health security, community-based rehabilitation, among others.

6.     WHO Fellows Programme:  The WHO Fellows programme seeks to enhance partnerships across the Southeast Asia Region (SEARO) through effective training and knowledge-sharing of healthcare personnel.  The programme seeks to prepare WHO fellows for leading positions in health services research and delivery.  Thailand and India receive largest number of WHO Fellows from its member countries in the South-East Asia Region and a few from outside the Region.

7.      Regional WHO Programmes:  Lastly, WHO Thailand in partnership with the Royal Thai Government, houses a number of programs that serve multiple countries both inside and outside the South East Asia Region.  The country office provides operational and administrative support to these programmes, and the WHO Representative for Thailand supervises some staff.  Some prominent programs at WHO Thailand are as follows:

§         WHO Mekong Malaria Programme (MMP):  MMP has facilitated the coordination of malaria control activities among the Greater Mekong Sub-region countries to enhance malaria control and contain the emergence of drug-resistant malaria.

§         Vaccine Supply and Quality Unit in the South East Asia Region:  This program includes the National Regulatory Authority capacity-building for vaccines, support to strengthen vaccine management and vaccine safety including monitoring of AEFI, and hospital sharps waste management.

§         Stockpile management and operations:  A regional stockpile of medicines, commodities, and emergency kits has been established since early 2007 to assist SEARO Member States to prepare and respond to natural disasters, humanitarian crises, and public health emergencies in line with the 2005 International Health Regulations (IHR 2005).