Dr. Bundit Sornpaisarn, Dr. Jürgen Rehm and Thai researchers had conducted research on cessation methods and factors influencing successful smoking cessation in Thailand: a case-control study among smokers at the community level in 2020. The Tobacco Research Centre of Thailand funded this study. Dr. Sornpaisarn presented the study results in the 13th Asia Pacific Conference on Tobacco or Health (APACT) on September 4th, 2021. Two scientific articles illustrating results of this study will be submitted to two international peer-reviewed journals, in October and November 2021.
The ASEAN NCDs surveillance-system strengthening project had aimed to strengthen the national surveillance systems for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) prevention and control in six countries within the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). These countries included Cambodia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. This project was funded by the Thai Health Promotion Foundation (Thai Health), a Thai granting agency for health promotion with an annual budget of USD 120 million. Using two in-person workshops (conducted in Thailand) and a series of online learning sessions, Dr. Bundit Sornpaisarn and Dr. Jürgen Rehm guided the target countries’ research teams to conduct a situation analysis and gap identification and draft a developmental proposal to strengthen their national NCDs surveillance systems. After the completion of the 18-month long project, outputs included the formation of networks among six country-research teams (3-4 researchers per team), six countries' proposals to strengthen the national NCDs surveillance system, and two publications that are now in the review process of two international peer-reviewed journals. One article is entitled ‘The availability of country data on the WHO Global Monitoring Framework and the Progress Monitor Indicators for the prevention and control of NCDs in six selected ASEAN countries’ and the other ‘Evaluation of WHO ‘best buys’ to control tobacco use in six selected ASEAN countries.’ As Thai Health continues to develop themselves as a hub for health promotion and NCDs prevention and control among the ASEAN region, an opportunity presents for CAMH to work (as a consultant) alongside Thai Health to build partnerships and improve the research capacity of this region.