Pasteur Institute Hosts Conference to Mark 120 Years in Ho Chi Minh City

November 30, 2011

AMP participated in a scientific conference on communicable disease hosted by the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on November 17 as part of celebrations marking the institute’s 120 years in the city.

Focusing on the control and prevention of communicable disease, conference themes included HIV, STIs and blood-transmitted Infections; arboviruses and hemorrhagic fever viruses; and emerging and re-emerging infectious disease, antimicrobial resistance and vaccines.

Institute director Dr Tran Ngoc Huu told the conference: “Despite many epidemics having been controlled, Vietnam is still facing communicable diseases…particularly in the south.” These diseases include hand-foot-mouth disease, dengue fever, HIV/AIDS and cholera.

In addition to AMP, conference participants included experts from the Vietnamese public sector, the Pasteur Institute’s international network, official development agencies, United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations, research/education bodies and global corporations.

AMP intends to cooperate more closely with the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City in vaccinology research. It also plans to provide technical support to develop distance-learning capacities and innovative training methods at the institute.

Established in 1891, the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City was the first one outside of France – inaugurated just three years after the institute in Paris.