China Medical Board News

As the global health community confronts the threat of a major new influenza pandemic, The Lancet, one of the world’s leading medical journals, in partnership with China Medical Board and the Rockefeller Foundation, will develop a major Series to assess the state of public health in Southeast Asia.

The Series, scheduled to launch in January 2011 during the Prince Mahidol Award Conference, will highlight the region’s uniqueness, diversity, successes and challenges in the field of health. “This Series will be a very exciting and important step towards enhancing the level of regional cooperation and solidarity on health issues”, said Dr. Suwit Wibulpolprasert, senior advisor to Thai Ministry of Public Health and member of the Series’ Regional Steering Committee.

Dr Richard Horton, Editor of The Lancet, said: "For The Lancet, this work represents an important step in our efforts to move beyond being a conventional medical journal. We aim to partner with scientists, policymakers, and institutions to act as a catalyst for progressive health reforms in countries that face some of the toughest health predicaments in the world today. We want to work with colleagues in Southeast Asia to be a laboratory of evidence and policies, to review and test the best available data in order to deliver reliable advice to professionals on the frontlines of healthcare. This collaboration has the potential to identify important new directions in health for those living in Southeast Asia and I am very much looking forward to our joint work together."

An initial May 8-9, 2009 meeting in Bangkok was attended by 40 health leaders who will commission a series of papers with regional scientists as the lead authors. The exact theme and content of the Series, comprising around 12 papers and commentaries, will be determined by a newly established Regional Steering Committee and Scientific Advisory Group of health leaders from Southeast Asia and beyond. “The region has so much to offer to the outside world in terms of learning and future directions,” said Dr. Lincoln Chen, event convener and President of the China Medical Board.

The Lancet Series on Southeast Asia follows on the successes of China Medical Board’s partnership with The Lancet on the Health System Reform in China Series. While this Series will significantly advance scholarship on Southeast Asia’s major health achievements and challenges, it will also support capacity-building for up-and-coming researchers from within the region, creating mechanisms for longer term collaboration on research and evidence-based policy making. “We see this series as much more than a research process,” said Dr. Mushtaque Chowdhury, Associate Director of the Rockefeller Foundation. “By bringing together leading experts from across the region, The Lancet Series can serve as a vehicle for fostering long-term collaboration to improve health equity in the region.”

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