The Lancet to launch series on the state of public health in Southeast Asia

As the global health community confronts the threat of a major new influenza pandemic, The Lancet, in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation and the China Medical Board, 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. It will also focus on the growing risk of pandemics and how initiatives such as the Mekong Basin Disease Surveillance Network can be successful in building effective capacity and cooperation between health institutions and ministries across the region.

“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, meeting attendee and senior advisor to Thai Ministry of Public Health.

The exact theme and content of the Series, comprising around 12 papers and commentaries, will be determined by leaders in the field of public health from the southeast Asia region and beyond. An initial two-day meeting was attended by 40 leaders in the field who will commission a series of papers with regional scientists as the lead authors.

“The region has so much to offer to the outside world in terms of learning and future directions,” said Dr. Lincoln Chen, event organiser and President of the China Medical Board. “The Series will help do this in a very effective way.”

“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.”

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."