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President
of Nagasaki University
Hiroshi
Saito
M.D., Ph.D.
President's Profile
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Welcome Speech at the First World Health Organization, Western Pacific Regional Office (WHO/WPRO) and Nagasaki University GOARN National Training Course
February 25, 2008
Dr Thomas Grein, Coordinator, Alert and Response Operations, Department of Epidemic and Pandemic Alert and Response Communicable Diseases, WHO Headquarters, facilitators from the WHO Headquarters, as well as the Western Pacific Regional Office, experts and colleagues from Japanfs eminent institutions, participants, ladies and gentlemen, good morning!
I would like to welcome you all to the First World Health Organization, Western Pacific Regional Office (WHO/WPRO) and Nagasaki University Global Outbreak Alert Response Network (GOARN) National Training Course.
Epidemics and outbreaks of communicable diseases have been a serious cause for concern internationally and, recently, such incidents have actually taken place in certain parts of our region. This has led to a reaffirmation, on the part of all the regional Governments, of the necessity and importance of vigilance, and of the urgent need to prepare for any possible occurrence. Fearing such unforeseen events, I have come to believe that health experts in Japan would appreciate in-depth training that will further advance their ability to respond promptly and effectively in the event of a heath crisis situation or an emergency resulting from an outbreak or epidemic.
This sort of training will also help upgrade the competences of other health professionals and prepare them fully to respond to any outbreak or epidemic contingency, either domestically or globally. In close collaboration with WHO/WPRO GOARN, it is, therefore, the aim of Nagasaki University to provide Japanfs health specialists and their staff with training exercises to further improve their expertise and skills, so that they may ready themselves to assist at any time in dealing with a national, regional or global outbreak alert, and to respond effectively under the WHO/WPRO GOARN umbrella.
We envision that our substantial training courses will enable Japanese health experts and members of the health sector to serve as leaders in situations such as national or international health emergencies or outbreaks, in association with WHO/WPRO GOARN.
For some time now, Nagasaki University has worked in close cooperation with the World Health Organization on various health activities and has mutually agreed to establish the following WHO Collaborating Centres for research and training within the University:
- The WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Mental Health, Division of Neuropsychiatry;
- The WHO Collaborating Centre for Research on Thyroid and Autoimmune Diseases; and
- The WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Tropical and Emerging Virus Diseases.
As I mentioned earlier, with the recent global concerns on communicable disease outbreaks and epidemics, Nagasaki University is determined to cooperate closely with WHO GOARN in providing well-qualified and experienced Japanese specialists to areas affected by outbreaks and health emergencies. Hence, with the success of this very first WHO/WPRO and Nagasaki University GOARN national training initiative, it is our sincere hope that Japanfs health professionals will be able to provide a consistently effective response during national, regional or global outbreaks of communicable diseases or epidemic situations. With this goal in mind, and by conducting this training course together with WHO and GOARN, we are pleased that Nagasaki University has been able to initiate and contribute to the improvement of Japanese experts.
Furthermore, coupled with the provision of Japanfs available resources of health equipment and supplies, Japanese experts will be committed partners of WHO GOARN in regional and global collaborative endeavors responding to outbreaks and health emergency situations.
I wish you all a successful and productive week of training.
Thank you.
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