ANNUAL REPORT 2010-2011 SEAMEO TROPMED REGIONAL CENTRE FOR MICROBIOLOGY, PARASITOLOGY AND ENTOMOLOGY INSTITUTE FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA Introduction The Institute for Medical Research (IMR) is one of the network of research institutions under National Institute of Health (NIH), Ministry of Health Malaysia. The NIH identifies research priorities areas through conduct of research, leading to utilization and translation of research findings into new knowledge, development of better tools for the diagnosis and management of important health problems, health policy formulation, health management, and health promotion. IMR main function is to carry out research to identify, elucidate, control and prevent diseases and health issues prevalent in the country. Its mission is to improve health by 1) carrying out quality biomedical research to address national health priorities, 2) providing specialized diagnostic services and 3) building national capacity through technology transfer and consultative services. IMR also provide specialized diagnostic services, training in specialized fields and consultative /advisory services to health providers, managers and planners in improving the health of the Malaysian population. IMR’s vision is to be recognised internationally by the scientific community as the leading centre for biomedical research. IMR Research programmes are geared towards these various identified priority areas by NIH and in line with the health problems of the country. The NIH health priorities includes Infectious Disease of Major Public Health Problems such as Dengue, malaria, Ischaemic Heart Disease, Cerebrovascular Disease/Stroke, Cancers, Respiratory Diseases, Diabetes, Health Policy and Systems, 1 Pharmaceuticals and Medical devices, Respiratory Diseases and Mental Disease. Research findings and results are used by managers and administrators of Ministry of Health, other ministries and other government agencies which are related to health, in forming, implementing and evaluating activities for the diagnosis, prevention and control of diseases in the country. IMR consisted of one Administrative Centre, seven Research Centres (Allergy and Immunology, Cancer, Cardiovascular, Diabetes and Nutrition, Environmental Health, Herbal Medicine and Infectious Diseases Research Centre) and one Diagnostic Centre. The IMR has 869 posts, of which 623 (71.69%) have been filled. There are 11 persons in the Senior Management group, 183 persons in the Managerial and Professional Group, comprising scientists, doctors, dentists, veterinarians, librarians, system analysts, a statistician, a pharmacist and administrative officers. The rest of the staff i.e. 429 persons belong to the Technical and Support group. The total expenditure of the Institute in 2010 was about RM 80.87 million. SEAMEO TROPMED Network Malaysia : SEAMEO TROPMED Network Malaysia is located in IMR, it serves as the SEAMEO TROPMED Regional Centre for Microbiology, Parasitology and Entomology. As a NETWORK of the Regional Centres, IMR also serves to facilitate the strengthening of national and institutional capabilities in research and human resource development through various training and postgraduate degree programmes, linkages, personnel exchanges, scientific forums, technical consultant services, publications and information dissemination. The two main regular training programmes conducted by IMR each year are the Diploma in Applied Parasitology and Entomology (D.A.P&E) and Diploma in Medical Microbiology (DMM) post graduate courses. 2 Academic Programmes Post graduate programmes, SEAMEO TROPMED courses, the Diploma in Applied Parasitology and Entomology (DAP&E) and Diploma in Medical Microbiology (DMM) as usual were conducted yearly. Both provide training in theory and practical in various aspects of Medical Parasitology, Entomology and Medical Microbiology. These courses were designed to train Medical Doctors, Scientists and other health personnel in basic and advance Medical Parasitology, Entomology and Medical Microbiology, as well as skills in conducting research, diagnostic services and approaches in control programmes. In 2010, the Centre has made a rescheduling of the courses such that both courses are conducted within a year. Both are conducted for a duration of 5 months each. The DMM course is from March to July and the DAP&E course from August to December each year. The Center has also made a little changes to the modules especially in the DAPE course by rewording some of the titles of the modules, in particular the Parasitology module. The DMM modules remain the same. There was no DMM course conducted in 2010 partly because of these rearrangements and the renovation of the facility., DAP&E The 41th DAP&E Course was conducted from 4th May to 16th October 2010. A total of 16 candidates from 11 countries attended the course, which comprised one each from Maldives, Uganda, Kyrgyzstan, Suriname, Zambia, and Liberia, 2 each from Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Cambodia, and Albania, and 2 from Malaysia. The SEAMEO-TROPMED programme sponsored 4 candidates, 2 from Cambodia, and 2 from Malaysia. The Malaysian Technical Cooperation Programme (MTCP) supported 8 candidates, 1 each from Uganda, Maldives, Kyrgyzstan, Suriname, Zambia, and Liberia and 2 from Albania. The WHO sponsored all candidates from Vanuatu and Solomon Islands. 3 A total of 16 candidates passed the final examination with 3 candidates passing with distinction (1st Distinction was Ms See Kah Heng from Malaysia, 2nd Mr. Elton Rogozi from Albania and 3rd was Mr. Gracious Adams Simwanza from Zambia). Ms See Kah Heng from Malaysia was awarded the Best Student Award and Mr. Wesley Donald from Vanuatu was awarded the Best Thesis Award. The projects thesis submitted in partial fulfillments of the 2010 DAP&E course are as listed in Appendix 1. DMM DMM was not offered in 2010. The Centre’s take the opportunity to do renovation of the facility including the teaching room, laboratory and the computer room. The renovated facilities are shown in Appendix 2. IMR Research Activities Staff members of the Institute were engaged in 102 research projects, 61 for year 2010, (Appendix 3) and 41 research projects in 2011 (Appendix 4). Majority of research projects are sponsored by the Ministry of Health Malaysia, and some by other International and National funding agency. The research projects comprising several disciplines including Infectious Tropical Diseases such as dengue, malaria and Chikungunya, Environmental Health, Drug Discovery, Stem Cell, Tuberculosis research, and others. The Institute published 75 scientific papers in 2010 (Appendix 5) and 56 in 2011 (Appendix 6). In addition, staff of the Institute were involved in presentations at local and International Seminars. RESEARCH ACTIVITIES IN IMR In 2010, staff members of the Institute were engaged in 83 projects. The Institute published 75 scientific papers and produced 11 reports. The reports were generally prepared to meet specific requests made by various government 4 departments and agencies. In addition, staff of the Institute was involved in 191 presentations at local and International Seminars 1. RESEARCH ON CLIMATE CHANGE Climate Change and Its health implications was the topic for the Thematic symposium during the 49th GBM of SEAMEO TROPMED Network. The paper presentation included facts about climate change, recent experiences on climate change and its effect on health in general and on infectious diseases in particular. The presentation was followed by small group discussions. The body unanimously agreed that climate change is a concern of the network. The Network committed to undertake Health and Climate Change research. The Centre is currently very active in Climate Change research. The following are research being conducted and plan for Climate Change: 1. Dengue adaptation strategies and 2007 Johor flood This project studies the adequacy of dengue adaptation measures during the Johor flood of 2007 an extreme weather event consistent with climate change. The meteorological data (time trends for precipitation, relative humidity and temperature) and dengue incidence data before, during and after the Johor flood in 2007 will be analysed to determine the adequacy of adaptation strategies for dengue. This project has started and expected to finished by March 2012 2. Temperature variability and climate change impact on health: strengthening adaptation strategies for dengue and other climate sensitive diseases. The objective of this project is to develop and test stable disease- climate change mathematical predictive model suitable in the Malaysian context in supporting and monitoring the implementation of adaptation strategies for climate change. For this project, application have been submitted on the 18 October 2010 by the IMR, MOH under the Japan’s Technical Cooperation for Technical Cooperation Project / Technical Cooperation for Development Planning to secure the services of Professor Yasushi Honda from the 5 Department of Health Care Policy & Management, University of Tsukuba who is involved in WHO climate change study on temperature and mortality/morbidity relationship. He has also contributed to IPCC report. The result for Japan Technical Cooperation is expected to be announced in September 2011. If successful, Professor Honda will be available to us for repeated short periods until December 2012 in carrying out the project 3. Development of a risk assessment tool for managing the health impact of climate change The proposal has