COOPERATION BETWEEN ASEAN AND WHO which has been going on smoothly for many years as given a new boost when they signed a Memorandum of Understanding to promote close collaboration in several key health areas.

Areas covered by the MOU include prevention and control of priority communicable diseases, the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases, environmental health, quality assurance in the area of essential drugs, nutrition, food safety, and research in the area of essential drugs, nutrition, food safety, and research in the area of new and re-emerging diseases.

According to WHO Regional Directors Dr. Uton Muchtar Rafei of SEARO and Dr. Sang Tae Han of WPRO, the Memorandum emphasizes the need to incorporate health into all poverty alleviation efforts. As such, it represents a higher level of cooperation between ASEAN and WHO.

In accordance with the MOU. ASEAN authorities, with WHO technical support, will establish a system of regular ex- changes of experiences, information and expertise with a view to effective control of the spread of communicable diseases in the ASEAN countries. The MOU places special emphasis on malaria, dengue haemorrhagic fever and other vector- borne diseases, vaccine preventable diseases, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, hepatitis and meningococcal meningitis,

A coordinating mechanism involving ASEAN, the WHO Regional Offices for South-East Asia (SEARO) and the Western Pacific (WPRO), and WHO Head- quarters has been established to implement the MOU which will be valid for five years.

The Memorandum was signed by Dr. Prakrom Vuthipongse, Chairman, ASEAN Sub-Committee on Health and Nutrition; Dr. Uton Muchtar Rafei, Regional Director, SEARO; and Dr. Sang Tae Han, Regional Director, WPRO.

The first ASEAN-WHO cooperative effort is the Technical Cooperation in Pharmaceuticals among ASEAN Countries which is now into its fourth phase. This project supports the pharmaceutical industries of ASEAN Member Countries by convening sub-regional seminars and workshops on the preparation of training materials in the various fields of pharmacy.

ASEAN and WHO also have a joint effort in the prevention and control of HIV/ AIDS. With technical and funding support from WHO, the ASEAN Secretariat pre- pared the ASEAN Regional Programme on HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control for the period 1995-2000.