New research facility for infectious diseases unveiled in Cambodia

France's Institut Pasteur du Cambodge on Tuesday inaugurated a new facility here for a regional research platform in Asia, focusing its research on infectious diseases in the region. Cambodian Health Minister Mam Bunheng, Vincent Deubel, director of the Institut Pasteur du Cambodge, and French Nobel Prize for Medicine winner Barre-Sinoussi were present at the inauguration ceremony, which was attended by nearly 200 regional and international experts from ASEAN countries, China, China's Hong Kong, South Korea, France and the World Health Organization. "The new premises will be used to train Cambodian and foreign researchers working on emerging or re-emerging infectious diseases such as encephalitis, dengue, chikungunya, avian influenza, or H5N1, malaria and so on," said a press statement from the French Embassy in Phnom Penh. "The creation of the new facility at the campus of the Institut Pasteur du Cambodge gives a new opportunity for research teams from different countries to pool their expertise together and develop long-term research and training partnerships on a larger scale," the statement said. The facility is financed by the members of the French National Alliance for Life Sciences and Health (Aviesan) under the guideline of the Cambodian Ministry of Health. After the inauguration, all participants attended a two-day international symposium on communicable infectious diseases.