On June 11, 2023, Professor Banchong Mahaisavariya, M.D., the President of Mahidol University, had the honor of delivering the opening speech at the ABACUS II international academic conference. Associate Professor Dr. Aree Jampaklay, the Director of the Institute for Population and Social Research, along with Professor Heiman Wertheim, the Head of the Department of Clinical Microbiology at Radboud University Medical Center, the Netherlands, gave presentations. The conference took place at the Pratunam meeting room, 7th floor, Amari Watergate Hotel in Bangkok, from June 11 to June 12, 2023.
The Institute for Population and Social Research co-organized the ABACUS II conference with Radboud University Medical Center, the Netherlands, and the research project was funded by the Wellcome Trust. The project was conducted by Associate Professor Dr. Sureeporn Punpueng and Assistant Professor Dr. Malee Sunpuwan on the topic of “Access and Use of Antibiotics (AntiBiotic ACcess and USe – ABACUS).”
The conference focused on assessing how the identification of oral antibiotics impacts appropriate community-based antibiotic use in low and middle-income countries. During the meeting, research results were presented, and there was extensive discussion and knowledge exchange among researchers, experts, and policy and plan makers from multidisciplinary fields including medicine, pharmacy, public health, social sciences, and population sciences. The meeting was attended by 42 participants from 11 countries, including Ghana, Kenya, Thailand, the Netherlands, Bangladesh, Mozambique, Laos, Vietnam, the United States, the United Kingdom, and South Africa. Associate Professor Dr. Surakit Nathisuwan, the Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy at Mahidol University, was one of the keynote speakers, along with experts from the Food and Drug Administration of the Ministry of Public Health.
