A Myanmar delegation led by Deputy Minister for Health Professor Dr Aye Tun attended the 7th Workshop on Malaria Eradication in China-Myanmar Border Areas held from 23 to 25 October and related meetings.
The Deputy Minister said at the workshop, on 23 October, that there is a lot of traffic between the two countries along the China-Myanmar border and the elimination of malaria infection in the area is important for both countries calling for increased cooperation between the two neighbours.
Then the deputy minister met officials from China’s National Institute of Parasitic Disease and Yunnan Institute of Parasitic Disease to discuss the status of the infection eradication work and the next steps to be taken between the two countries.
In the afternoon, the Myanmar delegation met Mr. Wang Hesheng, the Vice-Minister of the National Health Commission (NHC) to exchange views on the issues of cooperation between the two countries in the prevention and control of other infectious diseases in addition to malaria.
On 24 October, the Myanmar delegation met Director-General Professor Shen Hongbing at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) and discussed technical support for malaria elimination, Myanmar-China border malaria control, public health emergencies, bilateral cooperation in the fight against HIV and Tuberculosis, short course training programmes for Myanmar staff and mentor exchange for FETP programme.
The Myanmar delegation also met with Dr Boqing Deng, the Vice-Chairman of the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA) on 25 October, and discussed matters related to the implementation of the plan to eradicate malaria in the China-Myanmar border area as soon as possible and cooperation on the development of Myanmar’s health sector. The Myanmar delegation arrived back in Yangon yesterday. — MNA/TH
