Mosquito-borne diseases are a major cause of infectious diseases in Southeast Asia. These mosquitoes are vectors of various pathogens, transmissible from animals to humans or within humans. Dengue fever is among the priority diseases for local authorities in Champasak, Laos. As part of ASAMCO's activities, we mobilized stakeholders involved in mosquito-borne disease control to share their knowledge and the challenges they face in preventing these diseases at the local level, to foster exchanges between neighboring provinces, and to implement local activities.

Participants:

Centre Infectiologie Christophe Mérieux, Lao PDR

ASAMCO IRD

Department of Communicable Disease Control (DCDC), Ministry of Health, Lao PDR

Champasak province, Lao PDR

Soukuma District, Champasak province, Lao PDR

Buntharik District Public Health Office, Ubon Ratchathani, Ministry of Public Health

Buntharik District hospital, Ubon Ratchathani Province, Ministry of Public Health, Thailand.

Pon Ngam subdistrict Primary Care Unit (PCU), Ubon Ratchathani province, Ministry of Public Health, Thailand

ASAMCO Thailand worked together with local authorities to launch the "Food Safety Awareness in Livestock Products Project. (under the “1 District, 1 Local Government, 1 Slaughterhouse” policy)". This initiative actually grew out of the disease prioritization and risk assessment that was performed in 2025, which identified Streptococcus suis as a priority, translating our findings into concrete community action. The idea behind this project comes from the fact that Nan province still deals with Streptococcus suis risks, which mostly come from contamination during substandard slaughtering processes.

The event successfully engaged meat inspectors, slaughterhouse workers, pork vendors, and local leaders to build comprehensive food safety knowledge. A major highlight was the signing of an "MoU for the development of slaughterhouses in Nan Province" between the Nan Governor and all 15 District Chiefs, alongside a panel discussion on upgrading local slaughterhouses to meet national legal standards.

This partnership marks a significant step forward in strengthening consumer confidence and public health under the "One Health" concept.

See this event on news:

National broadcast NBT11

On line news

On November 28, 2025, ASAMCO organized a third expert workshop at Faculty of Environment (Kasetsart University)

By gathering experts, the workshop will support the ASAMCO project’s “synthesizing existing knowledge” activity by highlighting how anthropological and social sciences approaches, in dialogue with other disciplines, can foster community participation, strengthen local knowledge, and empower communities to improve the prevention of zoonotic diseases at the source. The expected outcome is to generate shared perspectives and concrete pathways for integrating social sciences into interdisciplinary strategies for zoonotic disease prevention.

On August 26, 2025, ASAMCO organized a KoM at Sobkhun village, engaging the village community, the school, the primary care unit and the local stakeholders: Nanthaburi National Park, Wildlife Sanctuary, Non-Hunting area.

Presentations were given by academics from Mahidol University and Kasetsart University and HealthDEEP team on some activities done in Saenthong subdistrict and the first activity in Sobkhun (co-implementation of camera traps in the community forest of Sobkhun). 

A participatory mapping was then conducted with all participants to identify activities to co-design and co-implement in Sobkhun.

Presentations on One Health and participatory activity

On June 9, 2025, ASAMCO organized a second expert workshop.

By gathering experts, the workshop contributed to synthesize existing knowledge in evaluating mechanisms, tools and legislations to combine - or on the contrary identify the policy and legislative gaps - to improve the prevention of zoonotic diseases at the source (ecosystem and wildlife interface)

see the report:

Lajaunie C, Hinjoy S, Peerapakorn S, Damrongwatanapokin S,Morand S. 2025. Report of the Expert workshop: Pathways to Reviewing Elements of Governance and Legislation for Upstream Prevention. ASAMCO Laos and Thailand (PREACTS, Afd, IRD). Bangkok, Thailand. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.15817089

On May 15, 2025, ASAMCO organized a first expert workshop at Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mahidol University.

By gathering experts, the workshop contributed to the synthesize of existing knowledge and gaps by evaluating knowledge, gaps, and risk of viral zoonoses in order to improve the prevention of their emergence and spread at the source.

see the report:

Hinjoy S, Suwanpakdee S, Wiratsudakul A, Hamel R, Morand S. 2025. Report of the expert workshop: Evaluating knowledge and gaps in preventing the emergence and spread of viral zoonotic diseases. ASAMCO Laos and Thailand (PREACTS, Afd, IRD) Bangkok. DOI:10.5281/zenodo.15815658

A PREACT (Prezode) project funded by the Afd (Agence Française de Dévelopment) and operated by IRD (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development).

The main objective of ASAMCO Laos & Thailand is to develop innovative approaches to prevent / mitigate the emergence and the spread of zoonotic diseases at the socio-ecosystem level and wildlife interfaces. In particular, the project in this region will explore local context of zoonotic disease prevention in relation to land use changes (including reforestation), climate change and wildlife conservation and use (including human-wildlife conflict). This objective will have impacts on enhancing the involvement of the environmental sector and disciplines in the implementation of the One Health approach.

In order to achieve the project objective, several activities need to be performed:

• Identification of wildlife interface and gap analysis on the prevention of zoonotic disease risks (wildlife supply chain, ecosystem, land use change, livestock - protected areas, reforestation, economic corridors, urbanization, etc).

• Mapping of relevant past and ongoing projects (aims, geography, methods, outcomes).

• Identification of gaps in policies and legislation regarding wildlife and zoonotic disease risks.

• Development of a Theory of Change (ToC) to prevent/ mitigate zoonotic risks at the ecosystem level: targets, paths, indicators, and impacts.

• Implementation of innovative actions for preventing, mitigating, and making a surveillance of zoonotic diseases in local sites (local communities and administrations).