KUCHING: A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed to promote academic and research cooperation among the Asian Alliance of Societies for Tropical Medicine and Parasitology.
This partnership aims to unite experts and societies to develop innovative solutions for challenges related to tropical diseases and parasitology.
Sarawak Deputy Premier, Datuk Amar Professor Dr Sim Kui Hian, highlighted that this alliance will play a key role in fostering academic collaboration, advancing research, and supporting efforts to combat tropical diseases.
"I'd like to warmly welcome everyone to the Tropical Disease and Malaria Conference here in Sarawak. It’s an exciting event that gathers global responses and interdisciplinary research focused on eliminating tropical diseases.
"We are also building collaborative partnerships through interdisciplinary research, which is why these collaborations are so important," he said during the opening ceremony of the International Congress for Tropical Medicine and Malaria at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) on Thursday.
The collaboration involves several prestigious organisations, including the Indian Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology (IAAVP), the Indian Society for Parasitology (ISP), the Indonesia Parasitic Diseases Control Association (IPDCA), and others such as the Sarawak Infectious Disease Centre (SIDC), and the Malaysian Society of Parasitology and Tropical Medicine (MSPTM).
Datuk Amar Dr Sim also officially welcomed more than 1,200 participants from over 58 countries. The congress focuses on the elimination of tropical diseases, particularly malaria, a vital part of achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and improving global health.
The five-day event will see scientists, clinicians, policymakers, and industry representatives discuss pressing topics like neglected tropical diseases, drug resistance, travel medicine, and zoonotic diseases—those transmitted between animals and humans.
Also present were the Organising Chair of the congress, Professor Dr Siti Nursheena Mohd Zain; President of MSPTM, Associate Professor Dr Lucas Low Van Lun; President of the International Federation for Tropical Medicine (IFTM), Professor Dr Malcolm Jones; Vice-Organising Chair, Dr Chen Chee Dhang; and Scientific Chair, Dato' Dr Chandrawathan Panchadcharam.
