Participants at two international conferences held in the capital this week called for greater collaboration amongst researchers and institutions in the Asia-Pacific region to combat infectious diseases.
Hosted by the ICDDR, B, over 350 participants, including researchers, government health officials and representatives from academic and other public and private institutions, from 16 countries attended the 16th conference on emerging infectious diseases (EID) in the Pacific Rim, which was followed by the 48th US-Japan Cooperative Medical Sciences Program (CMSP) conference on cholera and other bacterial enteric infections.
The conferences were formally launched on Sunday through a joint inaugural session, with State Minister for Health Zahid Maleque as the chief guest. US Ambassador Dan W Mozena and Japanese Ambassador Shiro Sadoshima were present as special guests.
In his inaugural speech, Zahid Maleque said the topics of the conferences were of great importance to Bangladesh in the context of understanding the causes of emerging and re-emerging infections, and preventing diseases through the development and use of vaccines.
The EID conference, which concluded on Tuesday, highlighted infectious diseases such as drug-resistant tuberculosis, childhood pneumonia and visceral leishmaniasis (kala-azar).
Participants shared their research findings from the Pacific Rim region on antimicrobial drug resistance in bacterial and parasitic diseases. They also underscored the need to disseminate scientific and public health information on the diseases to fellow researchers and policymakers, and identify areas of research that need more support.
The second conference, which ends today, brought together members of the US-Japan CMSP panels on acute respiratory infections, cholera and other bacterial enteric infections, parasitic diseases, TB and leprosy. The panels meet annually to expand cooperative research efforts in medical sciences, concentrating on health problems in Southeast Asia.
Both events were co-sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Incepta Vaccine Ltd.