บทคัดย่อ
In 2004-2005, outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian
influenza (HPAI) in poultry were reported in 8 countries
in South East and East Asia (China, Cambodia, Indonesia,
Japan, Laos PDR, South Korea, Thailand and Viet Nam)
and caused serious damages to the poultry sector.
In order to improve regional response to the threat of
pandemic influenza through joint research activities
and to translate research results into practice, the
Asia Partnership on Avian Influenza Research (APAIR)
was formed, and the APAIR Coordinating Office (CO) was
established in January 2007 and housed at the Health
Systems Research Institute (HSRI) of Thailand. APAIR
initiated and coordinated joint work among different
institutions in the most severely affected Asian countries
to fight avian influenza. The International Development
Research Centre (IDRC) provided the start up support
for APAIR.
In 2009 a new pandemic, H1N1 swine flu, threatened to
kill millions around the world. Members of APAIR saw the
opportunity to apply lessons learned from avian influenza
to this and other infectious diseases. Thus, APAIR
expanded its scope to include all emerging infectious
diseases and was renamed the Asia Partnership on
Emerging Infectious Diseases Research (APEIR).
APEIR is a regional initiative composed of researchers,
practitioners and senior government officials from
Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Thailand and
Vietnam. APEIR brings together representatives from
more than 30 partner institutions (research institutions,
universities, ministry departments) to form an alliance
to conduct research, mobilize knowledge, and advocate
for policy and practice change in agricultural and
public health. A steering committee sets the strategic
directions of the work of APEIR and appoints and guides
the activities of the partnership.
APEIR applies a 3-M approach. It is a multi-country,
multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral research network.
It has enabled researchers and experts from the
agricultural and health sectors to explore joint research
and policy questions in animal and public health. APEIR
has served as a platform for exchange of and discussion
on emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) both at country
and regional levels, allowing partnering institutions
to learn from past experiences and to plan for future
collaborations. In order to address the complexity of
emerging infectious diseases, the partnership uses
an ecohealth/onehealth approach and brings together
a combination of researchers with a mix of knowledge
and skills.
