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Thailand: Our Partner in Public Health Innovation

The Rockefeller Foundation recently partnered with the Ministry of Public Health and Siriraj Hospital to co-organize the International Conference in Medicine and Public Health (ICMPH) from June 24-28, 2013 in Bangkok, Thailand. Under the theme, “Healthy Society Beyond Frontiers,” more than 4,000 doctors, nurses, and health personnel attended, looking at new opportunities to increase health care efficiency in the ASEAN region.

During the opening ceremony, Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, presented the Rockefeller Foundation and other collaborators with a certificate of appreciation for supporting the international health conference.

The main theme of the conference [is] to establish a network of heath care without borders to improve the well-being of the people.

“The main theme of the conference demonstrates the vision and mission of the three major contributors to establish a network of heath care without borders to improve the well-being of the people, particularly those residing in this developing region,” HRH Princess Sirindhorn remarked in her opening speech. “I would like to congratulate and express my sincere appreciation to the Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, the Ministry of Public Health, and the Rockefeller Foundation, for hosting ICMPH 2013 which officially celebrates and marks a century of strong ties between Thailand and the Rockefeller Foundation.”

The conference also featured an exhibition commemorating the collaboration between Thailand and the Rockefeller Foundation. The partnership, which first began in Chiang Mai through an anti-hookworm campaign in 1915, later paved the way to an Rockefeller Foundation agreement with the Royal Thai Government to improve the medical education system in the kingdom.

Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn - Thailand

Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn presented the Rockefeller Foundation with a certificate of appreciation for supporting the international health conference.

“The Rockefeller Foundation’s commitment to public health dates back 100 years, and so too does our commitment to innovation and sharing knowledge. In that spirit, we are pleased to support ICMPH as part of our 90-year commemoration with Siriraj Hospital and the Ministry of Public Health,” said Ashvin Dayal, Managing Director of the Rockefeller Foundation in Asia. “Today, with fewer than three years until the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) commences, national borders matter less when it comes to health challenges, which are increasingly shared. The International Conference in Public Health and Medicine is an important venue for surfacing priorities as we look to the future.”

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