The Department of Pharmaceutical Services is organizing a 5 day workshop on the Rational Use of Antimicrobial Agents from the 5th - 9th December 2011. To welcome the participants, an Opening Ceremony cum Welcoming Dinner is held this evening, Tuesday, the 6th December 2011 at the Emperor’s Court Restaurant, Hua Ho Manggis Mall, Jln Muara. Present as the guest of honor to grace the ceremony is Yang Mulia, Dato Paduka Haji Abd Salam bin Abd Momin, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health. Also present at the evening’s event are the Deputy Permanent Secretaries, and senior government officers of the Ministry of Health. A total of 60 participants will be attending the workshop which comprises of delegates from 5 ASEAN member countries, including the host country Brunei Darussalam. 3 Consultants from the Western Pacific Regional Office (WPRO), World Health Organisation (WHO) will be facilitating the workshop.

This workshop is organized by the Ministry of Health, Brunei Darussalam as part of its commitment under the ASEAN Working Group on Pharmaceutical Development (AWGDP), where one the activities is to promote the rational use of medicines. This workshop is also one of the activities organized to commemorate World Health Day 2011 whose theme is ‘Antimicrobial resistance and its global spread’.

The objectives of the workshop are as follows:

• To instill understanding on the concept of rational/quality use of medicines specifically on antimicrobial agents
• Implication of irrational or poor quality use of antimicrobial agents
• Strategies to overcome irrational use of antimicrobial agents
• Share best-practices from various countries

It is hoped that by the end of the workshop participants will have learned strategies and share experience to further promote rational use of antimicrobials in their own countries and containment of antimicrobial resistance globally.

-TAMAT-

Tarikh : 6th December 2011 / 10 Muharram 1433