SPHC Myanmar - The 9th International Conference on Public Health Among Greater Mekong Sub-regional countries held successfully in Yangon

The 9th international conference on public health among greater mekong sub-region countries on the theme ‘Adopting healthy lifestyles: Combating non-communicable diseases’ was organized successfully in Yangon on 22^nd and 23^rd November 2017. The conference was organized by the University of Public Health with support from HelpAge International and other agencies.

The conference was inaugurated by H. E. Dr. Myint Htwe, Union Minister, Health and Sports, Government of Myanmar. H. E. Dr. Myint Htwe said in his opening speech “The increasing burden of NCDs has economic and social implications in many countries in the Greater Mekong Sub-region as well as all over the world. Developing countries must take the scenario of increasing trends of NCDs as a serious and dire warning or wake-up call if we would like a country to prosper and develop on several fronts. We need to act fast to address increasing menace of non-communicable diseases. If we miss this opportunity to tackle NCDs now, we will be facing uncontrollable social, medical and economic implications in future.”

The keynote speeches were delivered by Prof. Mya Oo, Former Deputy Minister of Health, Myanmar, Mr. Pedro Campo Llopis, Deputy Head of Development Cooperation, EU Delegation, Dr. Somsak Chunharas, Former Deputy Public Health Minister, Thailand, Mr. Eduardo Klien, Asia Regional Director, HelpAge International.

More than 400 professors, researchers, policy makers, public health practitioners and students from China, Thailand, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Vietnam, Myanmar, Japan, Korea, The Netherlands, USA, Germany and other countries. The 9th ICPH GMS conference provided a brilliant program consisting of keynote addresses, panel discussions, oral and poster presentations and exhibitions on the themes of strengthening health policies and systems for addressing NCDs, Universal Health Coverage for NCDs, Evidence for prevention and control of NCDs and promoting healthy lifestyles for prevention of NCDs. The experiences of European Union supported projects on capacity building of public health institutions and larger health systems in Myanmar, Lao PDR and Bangladesh were also shared in the conference.

This conference promoted sharing, discussion, coordination, collaboration and networking among public health institutions and professionals from countries within GMS region in research, teaching, policy analysis and programmatic interventions on prevention and control of NCDs. The conference also resulted in enhanced understanding, professional networking and collaboration among public health institutions from countries within Greater Mekong Sub-region on promoting healthy life styles and addressing NCDs through research, teaching, policy analysis and programmatic interventions.  

Prof. Khay Mar Mya, Rector of the University of Public Health, Yangon delivered the vote of thanks in the closing ceremony and thanked all the delegates for their active participation, all speakers and presenters for their excellent contribution, all agencies for their support and members of organizing, technical and logistics committees for their tireless work for making the conference a grand success. The venue and host for the next year’s conference was announced in the closing ceremony. The 10^th ICPH conference will be hosted by Kunming Medical University in Kunming, China in 2018 with the theme ‘Health equity and response to crisis.’

• Dr. Tej Ram Jat, Programme Manager Public Health, HelpAge International, Myanmar

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