Venue: MFA, Bangkok Date and time: Friday 15 August 2014, 12.00-14.00 : On Friday, 15 August 2014 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), Bangkok, Thailand, MoFA convened a lunch talk, an interactive forum, between Ministry of Public Health (MoPH)
and MoFA on global health issues. This Lunch Talk aimed to provide the latest issues of global health and health diplomacy among executives and officers of MoFA, serving to provide not only knowledge on global health, but also to strengthen a closer collaboration between foreign policy by MoFA and global health by MoPH. In addition, this Lunch Talk was arranged as a preparation for a workshop between MoFA and MoPH for drafting National Global Health Strategy that will be held on 23-24 August 2014 at Sampran Riverside Resort.
The Lunch Talk was a lively discussion by three panelists from MoPH and moderated by the Deputy Director General of International Organization Department, MoFA. There were around 80 attendees present at the talk, about 50 MoFA staff and 20 MoPH staff, including Candyce Silva, Sarocha Rachawong, Yaowalak Wanwong and Angkana Sommanustweechai from CapUHC.
Dr. Suwit Wibulpolprasert, Vice President of International Health Policy Foundation, MoPH, pointed out the important linkage between MoFA and MoPH. Health related issues can have extensive impacts to cross-country relationships. According to Post 2015 development agenda, Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is one of the items under the foreign policy global health framework. UHC is a strong influential tool leading to social and economic development. UHC contributes to poverty reduction by preventing financial catastrophe and impoverishment of households from paying medical bills. UHC aims to ensure equitable access of quality health services for all; therefore a strong effective health system is a pre-requisite for UHC achievement.
Dr. Apichai Mongkol, Director General of Department of Health Science, MoPH, elaborated that Global Health Security Agenda was led by the US government. It mainly focused on implementation of International Health Regulation (IHR) and practicing diseases outbreak control. There are three components: prevention, detection and response. All three are relevant to health care provision development in Thailand. Currently, Thailand plays a significant role as the leading country of Antimicrobial Drug Resistance and infectious disease laboratory network in the Southeast Asia Region
Dr. Supamit Chunsuttiwat, Senior Expert in Preventive Medicine of Department of Disease
Control, MoPH, shared information on the current most urgent disease in the world, Ebola, a viral zoonotic disease, which was first discovered in Africa in 1976. It’s transmitted from human to human by direct contact with blood, saliva, and other bodily fluids of an infected person. Symptoms of Ebola disease include high fever, weakness, vomit, diarrhea and raised rash (similar to hemorrhagic fever). Ebola’s fatality rate can fluctuate between 20-90%, and this outbreak’s rate is considered high at approximately 50%, although sanitation, hygiene and health care provision have recently been improving. The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). That designation could trigger an immediate “internationally coordinated response” to contain and control the outbreak, as well as request all countries activate their emergency pandemic preparedness plans. In Thailand, following WHO recommendations, there have been three surveillance measures at 3 focused areas including immigration checkpoints, hospitals and communities.
Participants followed the panel remarks with an active discussion. The issue of linkage between disease transmissions across countries, as “Disease without border” was raised. The health measures for border citizens are considered a very important in the future because health crises are no longer considered to be individual, but humanitarian problems. Another interestingand challenging issue is increasing the collaboration among neighboring countries and ASEAN, in particular AEC, ASEAN Economic Community, in 2015.
Participants left the talk with a better understanding of UHC, it’s importance for developing foreign policy toward global health framework, and how it is linked to global security, economics and social cooperation, which is a fundamental to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.