The primary focus of Thailand’s National Strategic Plan for Emerging Infectious Diseases 2017–2021 is to establish a systemic national strategy and organized management structures to prepare for, prevent, detect and respond to EIDs and public health threats such as SARS, avian influenza, Ebola, MERS and Zika. It addresses diseases already present in Thailand, imported threats, future diseases, antimicrobial resistance and deliberate biological threats. The Plan seeks timely and effective disease control through organized management, multisectoral coordination, participation and knowledge management. Its six strategies cover public-health emergency preparedness; surveillance, prevention and control under a One Health policy; risk communication and education; international cooperation; community, private-sector and provincial participation; and research and knowledge management. The One Health strategy provides for integrated human, animal and wildlife surveillance, environmentally responsible livestock and animal husbandry, zoonotic-disease control, biological security in hospitals and zoological parks, and enforcement of communicable-disease legislation. Implementation relies on management, coordinated action, policy translation, resources, communication, monitoring and field-based evaluation.
Thailand · 2016-12-07