A PLAN to develop a national disease surveillance system was the focus of a workshop held jointly by the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation at Traders hotel from May 11 to 13.

The workshop was attended by nearly 50 people, including project managers from government and private health care organisations.

“Southeast Asia shares a large proportion of the global burden of many communicable diseases, and disease surveillance is the most important tool in preventing and controlling them,” the Minister of Health, Professor Kyaw Myint, said at the opening ceremony.

Dr Soe Aung, the deputy director-general of the Department of Health, said the purpose of the workshop was to develop a national surveillance system and create standard definitions for diseases based on WHO guidelines.

Such a system will help officials take preventive measures to reduce the incidence of outbreaks and decrease the number of disease-related deaths, Dr Soe Aung said.

“Under the national surveillance system, information about diseases will be continuously collected at all levels, from grassroots to professional. Then we can make better health care decisions based on these findings,” he said.

Dr Soe Aung said the program will help prevent outbreaks of infectious diseases such as SARS and bird flu.

Although emerging infectious diseases will be given priority, a system to keep track of non-communicable diseases – such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and cancer – will also be implemented, he said.

“More than 50 per cent of the deaths in developing countries are caused by non-communicable diseases,” said Dr Thida San, the head of the Radiotherapy Department at Yangon General Hospital.

Professor Dr San San Myint Aung, the head of the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine at Yangon’s Institute of Medicine (2), attended the workshop to propose that the national surveillance system be included in the curriculum at medical institutes.

“Teaching about the national surveillance system will help students understand current disease trends and how to manage them, which will prepare them for disease control and management when they start working,” she said on the sidelines of the workshop.

Dr San San Myint Aung said the proposal would be submitted to the Ministry of Health.

Dr Soe Aung told Myanmar Times that the nationwide system will also promote networking among government, private sector and non-government organisations, which will promote quick responses to disease outbreaks.

“This year we will be involved in planning the system. We hope to implement it in 2005 following ratification by the Ministry of Health,” he said.