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The Second Paediatric Infectious Diseases Conference of Infectious Diseases Group of Pakistan Pediatric Association was held at Hotel Pearl Continental Lahore on 8-9th November 2008 in collaboration with the Pakistan Paediatric Association, Punjab. The theme of this conference was “Achieving Millennium Development Goals through Prevention and Control of Infections”. This conference was momentous in that the Asian Pacific Paediatric Association (APPA) Vaccinology 2008 also joined in the deliberations being held over a two day period.  It was inaugurated by Prof Chok Wan Chan, the President of International Pediatric Association. Incidentally, this was the first time that any president of IPA had participated in a PPA meeting in Pakistan under the capacity of President, IPA. The president of APPA, Prof. Sanath P Lamabadusuriya, was the guest of honour. A large number of delegates from all parts of Pakistan attended the conference. There were quite a few delegates from APPA and abroad as well, including Prof. Sanath P. Lamabadusuriya, President, APPA (Sri Lanka), Prof. Zulkifli Ismail (Malaysia), Prof. Dr. Md. Abdul Mannan Miah (Bangladesh), Dr. William Wong (Hong Kong), Dr. Daniel YT Goh (Singapore), Dr. A. J. Chitkara, Dr. Ashok Rai, Dr. Tapan Kr Ghosh, and Dr. Digant D Shastri (India).

 

The highlights of the meeting were plenary sessions, EPI symposia, APPA Vaccinology, meet an expert and ASAP symposia. It also included two teleconferences. One was on Clinical Update on Rotavirus Vaccines by Bernd Bennighoff. The other one was on Value of Combination Vaccines by Francis Andre. The audience benefited a lot from these talks as evidenced by a very healthy discussion at the end of each symposium. A panel discussion was held on latest development of vaccines. The free paper session also contained a good number of impressive local research papers from young scientists.

The conference also featured some important meetings including a meeting of the infectious diseases group, a central executive committee meeting of the Pakistan Pediatric Association and formation of the Pakistan group of ASAP- Asian strategic alliance for Pnuemococcal Diseases.

A colorful banquet with the background of classical music was attended by the participants on the evening of the first day of the conference. Souvenirs and shields were presented to foreign delegates and the organizers of the meeting.

The Infectious Diseases Group is a member society of WSPID and ASPID. This group has achieved great strides in a short period of time by conducting academic activities and by organizing a very successful conference two years ago. The presence of APPA Vaccinology 2008 greatly added to the advancement of knowledge regarding the latest vaccines available against the infectious diseases. It is important to note that the APPA Vaccinology meeting was originally scheduled to be held in India but was regretted only a couple of months before the date it was intended to be held on. The group took up the challenge, and despite the short period of time and extreme financial and communication constraints, we were able to hold the event quite successfully as admitted by the APPA members themselves. Infectious Diseases Group of Pakistan Pediatric Association is very confident now that it can shoulder any responsibility of a similar nature it is entrusted with.

The conference concluded on the second day with the commitment of its participants to help reduce the burden of infectious diseases and help the nations of the region in achieving the millennium development goals. The meeting concluded with the approval of the following recommendations:

  • Public awareness campaign through media, addressing pediatric infectious diseases is required for community mobilization.
  • Routine immunization should be brought back into the limelight and every step should be taken to ensure increase in coverage.
  • Robust disease surveillance system should be established for all infectious disease, learning and building on the Polio experience.
  • Adequate resources (financial and non-financial) should be allocated for ensuring control of Infectious Diseases in children, as MDG 4 cannot be achieved without containing the infections.
  • The national strategies and programs addressing neonatal and child health must integrate paediatric infectious diseases control strategy in their planning and involve experts such as the ID group.
  • Newer vaccines and other interventions to contain paediatric infectious diseases should be debated and included in our national strategies.


Prepared by:

Prof. M. Ashraf Sultan

Chairman Infectious Diseases Group

Chairman Organizing Committee

2nd Conference on Paediatric Infectious Diseases

& Asian Pacific Paediatric Association (APPA)

Vaccinology 8th, 9th November 2008.