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Southeast Asian Countries, India, and WHO Collaborate to Fight Emerging Diseases

Southeast Asian Countries, India, and WHO Collaborate to Fight Emerging Diseases
Sciencemag.org | This baby in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was born with microcephaly after her mother was infected with Zika virus early in her pregnancy.

India and nine south-east Asian countries have decided to come together under the World Health Organisation - South East Asian Regional Organisation (WHO-SEARO) to defeat the threat of emerging diseases across the world.

“The research platform will be provided with technical support by WHO which will also act as coordinator,” Dr RR Gangakhedkar, director, epidemic diseases, at Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), told Hindustan Times.

Due to increased mobility and migrations, epidemic disease patterns were becoming more or less similar in countries which shared borders, he added.

Citing the example of the Zika virus infection which was successfully prevented from spreading, he said that India has taken the lead in this initiative to understand these issues better.

Jackeline, 26, holds her four-month-old son, who was born with microcephaly, in Olinda, near Recife, Brazil, February 11, 2016. Image: REUTERS/NACHO DOCE
Jackeline, 26, holds her four-month-old son, who was born with microcephaly, in Olinda, near Recife, Brazil, February 11, 2016. Image: REUTERS/NACHO DOCE

 

Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Maldives, Indonesia, DPR Korea, Myanmar and Nepal are the nine nations that have collaborated with India in the mission.

“Given India’s success in curbing international outbreaks such as Zika and the Nipah virus infections, Asian countries have decided to come together and selected India to lead the initiative. India (ICMR) will be the secretariat right now; later other countries too will get the chance,” HT quoted the senior ICMR.

In association with the WHO, ‘RESEARCH - Regional Enabler for South-East Asia Research Collaboration for Health’ was launched on August 29 and will run in the nine other countries of the region.


Source : News18.com 

Indah Gilang Pusparani

Indah is a researcher at Badan Perencanaan Pembangunan Penelitian dan Pengembangan Daerah Kota Cirebon (Regional Development Planning and Research Agency of Cirebon Municipality). She covers More international relations, tourism, and startups in Southeast Asia region and beyond. Indah graduated from MSc Development Administration and Planning from University College London, United Kingdom in 2015. She finished bachelor degree from International Relations from University of Indonesia in 2014, with two exchange programs in Political Science at National University of Singapore and New Media in Journalism at Ball State University, USA. She was awarded Diplomacy Award at Harvard World Model United Nations and named as Indonesian Gifted Researcher by Australian National University. She is Researcher at Regional Planning Board in Cirebon, West Java. She previously worked as Editor in Bening Communication, the Commonwealth Parliament Association UK, and diplomacy consulting firm Best Delegate LLC in USA. Less
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