Golden Jubilee Myanmar Health Research Congress concludes

The final day and closing ceremony of the 50th Myanmar Health Research Congress was virtually organized in Yangon yesterday.
In the morning session of the event, the seminar under the topic of “Overcoming challenges in COVID-19 vaccination” was held.
At the event, Union Minister for Health Dr Thet Khaing Win said :
• Vaccination processes play a key role in conducting COVID-19 prevention, control and treatment activities.
• When the COVID-19 vaccines were first introduced, efforts were made to reduce socio-economic impacts with the aim of reducing infection rate and mortality rate. Therefore, the socio-economic related businesses such as the factories/industries, hotels and schools were resumed almost normally.
• There were also challenges for human resources for vaccination, storage and distribution of vaccines in cold chain. Regarding with these experiences, the participants should discuss and exchange views for the expected vaccine coverage and successful vaccination processes.
• A total of 45 million people of the country received their doses and it shows more then 60pc of ground population were vaccinated.
• The Prime Minister instructed officials to conduct practically as quickly as possible and nothing is more important than human lives regarding the COVID-19 preventive measures.
• The government used $276.64 million to buy COVID-19 vaccines and partner countries donated $121.12 million and the country received a total of 62 million doses- 45 million doses were bought and 17 million were received from donation. Moreover, the locally produced vaccines will be also used.
• According to the data, the death rate significantly drops after the people have fully vaccinated. So, the actions will be accelerated in vaccination processes.
• The attendees to the congress should discuss and suggest regarding the outcomes of the event and papers and make efforts to ensure better congresses.
Afterwards, Deputy Director-General Dr Kyaw Kan Kaung of the Public Health Department discussed under the title of Overview of COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment in Myanmar while Epidemiological Perspective by Director Dr Toe Thiri Aung, Operational Challenges at Central Level by Dr Myo Su Kyi, Manager of Expanded Programme on Immunization Project and Challenges for the basic health staff at the township level for COVID-19 vaccination by Head Dr Tun Min of the Yangon Public Health and Medical Services Departments. The participants and the Professors and medical experts coordinated the discussion online.
Then, Director-General Prof Dr Zaw Than Tun of Medical Research Department expressed words of thanks during the closing ceremony saying it is such a success for holding five-day congress from 21 to 25 February. The efforts of officials, resource persons and participants were appreciated.
During the award-giving ceremony, the Chairman of the Subcommittee for Selecting Best Paper and Poster Rector Prof Dr Hla Hla Win, University of Community Health briefed the reviews and announced the winners.—MNA