Two dedicated medical researchers, who won the Prince Mahidol Award for 2016, pledged to carry on their research and continue their work to help humanity. Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn on Tuesday evening presented the Prince Mahidol Award for 2016 to Sir Gregory Paul Winter and Dr Vladimir Hachinski, the two awardees in the fields of medicine and public health respectively, at Boromrajasathitmaholarn Hall in the Grand Palace. The Princess then hosted a dinner to honour the laureates. Sir Winter, Master of UK’s Trinity College University of Cambridge, said he was very surprised and glad that he had been nominated for the Prince Mahidol Award in recognition of his achievements in research to develop humanised therapeutic antibody technologies.

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The flood situation in the South, which has claimed 96 lives, has improved and only six districts in three provinces are still inundated, but the Ministry of Public Health has warned residents in Prachuap Khiri Khan and 11 other southern provinces of the emerging threat of Leptospirosis.​​ As of January 31, a total of 157 people in the region suffered from this water-borne disease, three of whom had died (two in Krabi and one in Trang) and three others had been admitted to intensive care units, the deputy permanent secretary for Public Health, Dr Suwannachai Wattanayingcharoenchai, said. Krabi saw a six times increase in the number of Leptospirosis patients while there was a two-fold increase in Nakhon Si Thammarat compared to the same period last year, he added. People who suffered from fever and muscular pain after wading through water and mud should see a doctor. If they delayed medical attention until they coughed blood or had jaundice, the risk of death would increase by 50 per cent, he warned.

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Drug treatment programs are being cut back even as rates of abuse rise—with one organization describing the situation as a “crisis”—because most funding is tied to HIV prevention and the prevalence of the virus is decreasing, health experts said. “Virtually all civil society funding related to working with people who use drugs is linked to HIV prevention,” said David Harding, an independent consultant who has worked with NGOs on drug abuse prevention and treatment programs in Cambodia. “Less organizations are providing direct services to drug users than there were 10 years ago,” he said. The decline in services comes as Cambodia is wracked by rising methamphetamine abuse, the substance of choice for the largest number of drug users, according to a U.N. report. Meth use is especially prone to being overlooked by the country’s available health service providers because it is most commonly smoked, and many drug treatment programs—focused on the spread of HIV—target injected drugs, such as heroin.

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Cambodia and China signed agreements on December 6 to build capacity in Cambodia’s health services, expand technology and fight the spread of diseases. After the official signing of four agreements, Health Minister Mam Bun Heng said the Chinese help would include preventing the spread of threats such as HIV, human avian influenza and malaria. Cooperation would take place also in traditional healing and surgery. China will provide training personnel at the University of Health Science, provide technical consultants and Chinese volunteer doctors for check-ups and treatment, exchange information and experience and enhance technical capacity. “Signing the agreement between both ministries shows that China is paying attention to public welfare. This cooperation will benefit Cambodians’ health,” he said. The agreements cover cooperation in the field of health, a mother and child project, cooperation between Guangxi Medical University and the College of Stomatology at the University of Health Sciences of Cambodia and a technology training, development and exchange program, covering telemedicine and research.

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The National Dengue Control Program, a department under the Health Ministry, remains skeptical in the implementation of a new dengue-prevention method, citing concerns about the program’s long-term sustainability.
Despite a Malaria Consortium pilot project – which uses guppy fish to eat mosquito larvae to stem the spread of aedes mosquitoes, the carriers of dengue – showing positive results in reducing dengue infections, the department’s manager Rithea Leang was still wary of implementing it nationwide for fear of opposition from rural villagers as well as a lack of funding. “This project is only over two years. How can you be sure it will last five years? Based on this study you can see it’s cost effective, but still it’s too early to see if it’s sustainable,” he said when asked why the government remained wary despite the positive outcome of the project. “We’re not sure about this situation yet. “It is cost effective, user friendly, but in the next 10 years, the level of aspiration, the level of people accepting it, is it still the same or not? It will depend on the activity and also participation from the community.” When asked if the government would be willing to foot the bill to implement the project nationwide, Mr. Leang said that there needed to be multiple approaches to tackling the issue of dengue.

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The heads of diplomatic missions in Laos have expressed confidence that the current National Socio-Economic Development Plan will lead to tangible progress in achieving continuous, inclusive and sustainable growth. This was the main message delivered by foreign diplomats to the country’s leaders, government and citizens during a ceremony held at the Presidential Palace on Friday to celebrate Laos’ 41st National Day. Malaysian Ambassador to Laos Dato’ Than Tai Hing, as Dean of the diplomatic corps, led representatives of diplomatic missions in offering good wishes to President Bounnhang Vorachit, his wife, and the government. Ambassador Hing congratulated Laos on the successful convening of the General Election of the National Assembly in March, saying it paved the way for the smooth transition of the country’s leadership. The diplomatic corps noted the continuing political stability in Laos over the past 41 years as one of the country’s most remarkable achievements, which they said had enabled the effective and successful implementation of successive five-year NSEDPs, including the current eighth cycle from 2016 to 2020.

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Young people with HIV are facing unique challenges, according to a recent report from Doctors Without Borders Myanmar released ahead of World AIDS Day on December 1. Adolescents with HIV aged 10 to 19 are three times more likely to experience failure with first-line anti-retroviral treatment than their adult counterparts, MSF’s Yangon project spokesperson U Nyan Lynn Htun said. It is believed that this is because they are taking the medication only sporadically, he said. “Adolescents with HIV need financial and social support,” he said. “They are depending on their guardians, like parents or other family, to provide them with ART and other needs.” In early 2014, MSF stopped taking on new patients but the organisation will begin again this year, with a focus on adolescents with HIV, he said. Their needs were not adequately addressed in the past and this has led to the disproportionately high rates of drug failure, he said. “They have many difficulties with taking ART regularly and they do not want to take medicine that impacts their mental state,” U Nyan Lynn Htun said. “Some of our adolescent patients live with their grandparents or relatives because both parents died when they were young. Although they get free medical treatment and ART, they have a difficult time taking it.”

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Around 15 per cent of Việt Nam’s population – approximately 13.5 million ­people – suffer from 10 of the more common mental disorders, reveal statistics released on November 29. Around 2.8 per cent of Vietnamese live with depression, 2.6 per cent suffer from anxiety disorder, while 0.47 per cent have schizophrenia, the Voice of Việt Nam online newspaper reported. The data was revealed on November 29 at the start of a two-day meeting in Hải Phòng City, organised by Lao động và Xã hội (Labour and Society) magazine and the Social Protection Department under the Ministry of Labour, Invalid and Social Affairs. Around 200,000 Vietnamese people suffer from severe mental illnesses, according to a report by Phạm Dũng from the Medical Committee Netherlands-Việt Nam at the meeting. Of these, 98 per cent cannot take care of themselves, 15 per cent show violent behaviour, and 37 per cent are yet to receive medication for treatment.

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Medical waste is threatening the northern province of Tuyên Quang due to difficulties in treating the hazardous material at local healthcare facilities, said Deputy Director of the provincial Health Department, Đỗ Thị Ngọc Mai. She estimated that some 500kg of medical waste were discharged daily in the province, but outdated technology and degradation of incinerators made it hard to dispose of them safely. Shortage of staff and skills in waste disposal also contributed to the problem, Mai said on November 28. She noted that construction of solid waste treatment facilities required huge investment, but the provincial budget was limited and there were no funds for repair, testing and environmental impact assessments. Tuyên Quang Province is just one example of the countrywide challenges posed by polluting waste. A recent report by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment said an estimated 47 tonnes of hazardous waste and 125,000cu.m of medical wastewater were discharged from industrial zones, production establishments, businesses and craft villages, as well as medical units, into the environment each day.

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Myanmar continues to have had only one confirmed case of Zika virus after test results for dozens of suspected cases have all led to negatives. A six-year-old from Lanma­daw township was one of more than 50 patients exhibiting Zika-like symptoms who were tested by the Department of Public Health over the past month. Health officials thought the child may be the second Zika case in the country, but his test too came back negative last week. “The results of the child from Lanmadaw township are negative [for the Zika virus]. Of the 57 suspected cases so far in Myanmar, only one person has been found to have the virus,” said Dr Aung Thu of the Department of Public Health. Following the WHO designation of the Zika virus as a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern” in February this year, the Myanmar government has instructed township medical departments to make a concerted effort to identify potential Zika cases, while mosquito control efforts have been stepped up in urban areas.

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