From 16th to 17th of June, 2016, with the purpose of promoting tropical diseases towards elimination through application of surveillance response systems, National Institute of Parasitic Diseases (NIPD) at Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in cooperation with World Health Organization, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (STPH) hold the 3rd Symposium of Surveillance Response Systems on Tropical Diseases Elimination in Shanghai. Several authorities including Mr. Lei Zhenglong, Deputy Director of Diseases Prevention and Control Bureau, the National Health and Family Planning Commission; Dr. Wang Yu, Director General of China CDC; Dr Wang Pan-Shi, Deputy Director of Health and Family Planning Commission of Shanghai municipality; Dr. Adiele N. Onyeze from WHO AFRO; Dr. Juerg Utzinger, Director of Swiss TPH, presented in the opening ceremony and also addressed the importance of the symposium.

This forum reviewed the recent research progress in tropical diseases, signed seven multiple bilateral and multilateral agreements during the symposium. Particularly the MoUs on Cooperation for Research on Schistosomiasis Control and Elimination signed between five Chinese provinces in lake region and five African countries to develop the new model of China-Africa south-south cooperation. During the two days, experience of study and implementation was reported on China-UK-Tanzania malaria control pilot supported by Global Health Support Programme (GHSP) founded by DFID, as well as China-Australia-Papua New Guinea pilot supported by trilateral governments. The international cooperation programme entitled as “The strategy of controlling and eliminating schistosomiasis and liver flukes in Asia Mekong region” has been lunched and the wining works of national health education competition on helminthiasis control were awarded. Mr. Xu Jie, Deputy Inspector of International Cooperation Department, Ministry of Science and Technology unveiled the plaque of “National Centre for International Research on Tropical Diseases ” which awarded by Ministry of Science and Technology of China.

Participants believed that elimination of tropical diseases has become a hot global public health issue，occurrence or recurrence of tropical diseases in some countries or regions in a large scale and disease spreading across the border has brought great challenges to global health. Meanwhile, tropical diseases such as malaria have been listed in the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which highly requires global cooperation, experience exchange, strengthen cooperation, make full use of internet mega data, prompt the construction of diseases surveillance system, explore new thinking, new technology and new method to collaboratively deal with the common issues of developing countries and tropical diseases epidemic regions which will help to achieve the goal of disease elimination.

This symposium attracted at least 200 representatives from more than 30 countries, regions, and organizations, such as WHO, DFID, AusAID, IDRC, Bill Gates& Melinda Gates foundation, UBS, PATH, NGOs, universities and CDCs.

Background

The 1ST Symposium on SRS was firstly held on June of 2012 and planned to hold every two years, with the aim of constructing an international influential academic resource communication and health cooperation platform of tropical diseases. The fourth Symposium on SRS has been scheduled in June 2018 in Shanghai.