FHI 360’s presence in Laos began in the late 1990s, when our work focused primarily on HIV prevention, care, support and treatment. At the time, FHI 360 provided technical assistance to government and nongovernmental partners on strategic information, proposal development, national integrated biological and behavioral surveys, behavioral surveillance surveys and the provision of a comprehensive package of services for HIV prevention among female sex workers. In recent years, our focus expanded to include other human development challenges.
In 2012, FHI 360 launched the End Neglected Tropical Diseases in Asia project in collaboration with the Ministry of Health in Laos. This project supports the expansion and strengthening of activities to control and eliminate several tropical diseases that are endemic throughout the country and that largely affect people made vulnerable by other diseases or living conditions. As part of this program, FHI 360 provides technical and management assistance, trains service providers, helps to improve community mobilization and communications, and strengthens planning, monitoring and evaluation systems.
From 2007 to the present, in partnership with the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Coordination Office in Laos, FHI 360 has supported the government in its bid to prevent and address potential outbreaks of H5N1, H1N1 and other emerging pandemic threats from zoonotic diseases.