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U.S.-Japan Cooperative Medical Science Program
12TH
International Conference on
Emerging
Infectious Diseases in the Pacific Rim
Antimicrobial
(AMR) Resistance in Respiratory Infections
December 4-6, 2007
Sheraton Haikou Resort
Haikou, Hainan Island, China
Hosted by: VTI Haikou
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Overview of U.S.–Japan Cooperative Medical Science Program |
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In 1965, the U.S.-Japan Cooperative Medical Science Program (USJCMSP) was established under a Summary of Understanding between U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson and Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato to undertake expanded joint cooperative biomedical research efforts, focusing on important public health issues in Asia. Areas initially selected for study included cholera, leprosy, parasitic diseases, tuberculosis, and viral diseases. Since its inception, the scientific focus of the USJCMSP has broadened, to reflect the changed medical problems.
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To reflect the changing public health issues and needs of the region, other areas added later included nutrition and metabolism (1966, 1997); environmental genomics and carcinogenesis (1972, 2001); hepatitis (1979); immunology (1981); AIDS (1987); and acute respiratory infections (1996). The U.S.-Japan Program commemorated its 40th anniversary in December 2004 in Kyoto, Japan. For over 40 years, the USJCMSP has engaged scientists, physicians, public health experts, and government officials in a collaborative, bilateral enterprise to address health problems prevalent in Southeast Asia.
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Many important scientific and medical benefits have emerged from the Program, including collaborations to develop and test oral rehydration therapy for cholera and other diarrheal diseases; new or improved vaccines for hepatitis B, cholera, influenza, and rotaviruses; ivermectin as a treatment for river blindness; and more effective methods of diagnosis and treatment for leprosy. Other hallmark contributions of the USJCMSP are its sponsorship of international meetings, workshops, and conferences on far-ranging medical and research issues, which have led to critical scientific exchange and collaboration among scientists from many countries.
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Annual regional Emerging Infectious Diseases Conferences are convened in a designated country in the Pacific Rim. These annual conferences have been designed to draw attention to the importance of emerging infectious diseases, especially in this region of the world, to serve as a clearinghouse of scientific and public health information on these diseases, and to identify areas of research that need additional emphasis or support.
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