Representing the Dean of PAPRSB Institute of Health Sciences (Dr. Hjh Rafidah binti HjGharif), Dr. Liling Chaw (a lecturer in the Public Health team at IHS) attended the SoutheastAsian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) Tropical Medicine and Public Health(TROPMED) Network 58th Governing Board Meeting. This 2-day meeting was held on the22nd to the 23rd of August, 2019 at Sheraton Imperial Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Themeeting organiser, SEAMEO TROPMED Network, is a regional cooperation networkestablished in 1966 for education, training and research in tropical medicine and publichealth under the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education.  The participants included 3 main groups: Governing Board members from ASEAN countries,representatives from SEAMEO TROPMED network, as well as representatives from affiliatepartner organisations (such as DAAD, Gifu University, and Teikyo University). The main aimof this meeting is to gain insights and comments from member countries on their currenthealth priorities. Thus enabling the Network to align their future activities to the currentissues faced by the member countries. Dr. Liling presented Brunei’s current health prioritiesand learnt about those from other ASEAN countries. One of the key and surprising highlightspresented is the rise in non-communicable disease cases among the developing countries(particularly in Lao PDR, Cambodia and Myanmar). Like UBD, there is also a trend to movetowards blended or online learning (notably, University of the Philippines and MahidolUniversity, Thailand). The meeting also discussed current research projects supported by the network, includingdeveloping a mental health assessment tool for school children in the Philippines and theLIFE for SEA-ED project. There were also conversations to encourage collaborative researchwithin the region. Dr. Hjh Rafidah binti Hj Gharif  (Dean of PAPRSB IHS) is currently aGoverning Board Member of this Network. Dr. Liling believes this is a useful link for thefaculty to be informed about current health-related updates from ASEAN countries and italso serves as a platform to network with regional researchers for potential researchcollaboration in the areas of tropical medicine and public health.I H S P A R T I C I P A T E S I N T H E 5 8 T H S E A M E OT R O P M E D G O V E R N I N G B O A R D M E E T I N G B E Y O N D | J U L . T O S E P T . 2 0 1 9 | I S S U E 1 8 Dr. Liling Chaw (middle row, eighth right), on behalf of the Dean of PAPRSB IHS (Dr. Hjh Rafidah Hj Gharif) attendedthe SEAMEO Tropical Medicine and Public Health Network 58th Governing Board Meeting at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysiafrom the 22nd to the 23rd of August 2019 8
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