VZCZCXYZ0004
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHVN #0061/01 0240842
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 240842Z JAN 08
FM AMEMBASSY VIENTIANE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1783
INFO RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 7602
RUEHHI/AMEMBASSY HANOI 2903
RUEHPF/AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH 1924
RUEHPH/CDC ATLANTA GA
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RHHMUND/COMMARFORPAC
RUEAHQA/HQ USAF WASHINGTON DC
RUEHBK/USDAO BANGKOK TH
RUEHBK/CHJUSMAGTHAI BANGKOK TH

UNCLAS VIENTIANE 000061 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/MLS (BESTIC) 
DEPARTMENT FOR AIAG (PATTERSON, SUMMERS) 
DEPARTMENT FOR OES/STC 
DEPARTMENT FOR OES/IHA 
DOD FOR OSD-POLICY (STERN, SHUBERT) 
DOD FOR DSCA (JUDKINS) 
PACOM FOR J52 (LACY) 
PACOM FOR J45 (NICHOLLS) 
PACOM FOR PACAF/SGZ (CINCO, OH, PALMER) 
PACOM FOR POLAD 
MARFORPAC FOR (NOREN) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KFLU LA MOPS PREL TBIO MASS
SUBJECT: PACAF AVIAN INFLUENZA WORKSHOP FOR LAO MILITARY 
TRAINERS 
 
REF: A. 07 VIENTIANE 0092 
     ¶B. 07 VIENTIANE 0625 
     ¶C. 07 VIENTIANE 0790 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY: U.S. Pacific Air Force (PACAF) medical 
specialists helped organize and funded a five-day "train the 
trainers" workshop on avian influenza (AI) rapid response for 
Lao medical personnel.  More than seventy specialists -- 
including 35 from the Ministry of National Defense (MND) -- 
attended the workshop which was coordinated on the Lao side 
by the National Avian and Human Influenza Coordinating Office 
(NAHICO) and MND's Medical Department.  The workshop followed 
World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for 
Disease Control (CDC) training materials.  Attendees broke 
into working groups for a table-top exercise (TTX) based on 
an increasingly serious AI outbreak scenario.  As was true 
for the first PACOM-NAHICO-MND AI workshop held last August 
(ref b), this program was special because it brought Lao 
military medical specialists together with their civilian 
counterparts to discuss how the two sides would work together 
in a situation requiring rapid response to a serious AI 
outbreak.  Presentations by Embassy and PACOM specialists 
conveyed our desired message: that the role of the military 
in these efforts will be critical.  End summary. 
 
BACKGROUND 
---------- 
¶2. (U) AI was identified during January 2007 talks, at the 
beginning of our expanded military-military cooperation, as 
an area acceptable to the Government of Laos (GOL) and MND 
for PACOM training (ref a).  The Marine Forces of the Pacific 
(MARFORPAC) and PACAF cooperated on the first two-day very 
successful AI Subject Matter Expert Exchange (SMEE) in August 
¶2007.  More than 120 officials attended that SMEE including 
more than 70 from the Lao military (ref b).  NAHICO and its 
director, Dr. Bounlay Phommasack, played a key role in 
organizing that program.  Support from the Director General 
of MND's Medical Department, COL Dr. Bounteun Bandavong, was 
another key element ensuring success.  NAHICO, which falls 
under the authority of the Prime Minister's Office, has the 
mandate to coordinate all AI preparations for the GOL. 
 
¶3. (U) PACAF Office of International Health Affairs 
(PACAF/SGZ) COL John Cinco and MAJ Wesley Palmer returned to 
Vientiane in December 2007 to discuss with NAHICO and the MND 
Medical Department details for this second AI program, which 
had been previewed for GOL officials during our October 2007 
Bilateral Defense Talks (ref c).  This five-day AI/Pandemic 
Influenza (PI) Rapid Response Training of Trainers was based 
on a training course developed by the WHO and U.S. CDC and 
has been presented by PACAF/SGZ in a number of neighboring 
countries.  The target audience was to include both MND 
medical and non-medical personnel who may be called upon to 
respond to control a pandemic outbreak. 
 
THE WORKSHOP 
------------ 
¶4. (U) NAHICO and MND's Medical Department invited more than 
60 participants, with the majority representing MND. 
Military personnel, from both the Lao People's Army (LPA) and 
Air Force, came from MND's Medical Department, MND's Disease 
Prevention Institute, the Office of the Chief of Staff, MND's 
Transportation Department, MND's Agriculture Production 
Department, the Military Commander's Officer of the Vientiane 
Capital District, the LPA Newspaper, LPA Television, three 
military/public security hospitals, and five regional 
military units.  Other attendees came from the Prime 
Minister's Office; the Ministries of Public Health, 
 
Agriculture and Forestry, Public Security, Energy, Public 
Works and Transportation, Information and Culture, and 
Foreign Affairs; as well as the Central Laboratory for 
Epidemiology (CLE), the Center for Information, Education, 
and Health (CIEH), and the Immigration Department and Water 
Bureau from the Vientiane Capital District. 
 
¶5. (U) The U.S. side included PACAF/SGZ personnel led by Lt 
Col John Oh as well as specialists from 13th Air Force, 
Tripler Army Medical Center, and the Air Force Institute for 
Occupational Health (AFIOH), all of whom were active as 
speakers and/or "facilitators" for the six working groups 
during the workshop.  In addition, Embassy Infectious Disease 
Control (IDC) Specialist Dr. Andrew Corwin, an Embassy IDC 
local employee specialist, and an Embassy-based USDA/APHIS 
specialist joined personnel from NAHICO, MND, and the 
Ministry of Public Health in making presentations and acting 
as facilitators.  Special presentations were also delivered 
by personnel from WHO, including on WHO's Containment 
Strategy, and WHO and UNICEF on Risk Communication. 
 
¶6. (U) Workshop topics included the Lao National Human 
Pandemic Influenza Plan; Ethical Conduct in an Outbreak 
Investigation; AI Protection and the Role of the Military; 
Case Management of Suspected AI Cases; Pharmaceutical and 
Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions to Control a Pandemic; 
Laboratory Diagnostics, Specimen Collection, and Biosafety 
Issues; and Case Investigation of Human AI; among others. 
Separate sessions were held on Animal Husbandry for Animal 
Health Practitioners.  The attendees were each issued 
Protective Personal Equipment (PPE) sets, watched a 
demonstration on their use, and practiced putting them on 
correctly. 
 
THE TABLE-TOP EXERCISE (TTX) 
---------------------------- 
¶7. (U) This workshop used a TTX set on Palawan Island in the 
Philippines where AI outbreaks were, according to the 
scenario, beginning to occur.  Exercises started with making 
recommendations to the National Crisis Management Center on 
setting up a Rapid Response Team, on declaring an isolation 
zone, and on transportation, logistics, medical and monetary 
assistance, public communication, and related issues.  The 
six working groups were presented with a total of six 
increasingly serious situation reports spreading over the 
21-day scenario and asked to examine what the military's role 
would be in responding to the escalating pandemic.  The 
participants took their roles seriously and engaged in 
detailed discussions of the situations they faced.  Each 
working group was supported by as many as three facilitators 
to help them move through the TTX.  The facilitators included 
visiting U.S. team members, and specialists from the Embassy, 
NAHICO, and the Ministry of Public Health.  Working group 
reports back to the plenary and question-and-answer 
opportunities demonstrated differing options adopted by the 
different groups.  However the common element was to ensure 
all involved ended the program understanding the important 
role the military has to play in helping manage a major 
pandemic event - whether AI or any other major problem which 
may affect Laos in the future. 
 
MND's Plan 
---------- 
¶8. (U) MND's Medical Department was very supportive of this 
program.  Director General COL Dr. Bounteun joined the 
Ambassador and NAHICO Director Dr. Bounlay for the opening 
ceremony and remained for the entire first day to help ensure 
all of the MND participants were clear about his personal 
 
interest.  COL Dr. Bounteun also returned for the closing to 
hand out certificates to all participants including the 
facilitators and presenters.  Throughout, COL Dr. Bounteun 
and his senior deputies sent very positive messages about the 
importance they were attaching to this event. 
 
¶9. (U) More importantly, the military attendees met 
separately mid-week and drafted their own plan for 
"Prevention and Control Planning of Avian Influenza (AI) in 
Line of Lao Military During the Year 2008-2010."  The plan 
established the composition of the military team for dealing 
with a pandemic outbreak at both the ministry and grassroots 
levels, listed tasks the military needs to do to prepare for 
meeting the AI threat, and decided on required training for a 
military rapid response.  (Copies of the Embassy's 
translation of the military plan are being e-mailed to AIAG 
and EAP/MLS.  The PACAF team members also have copies.) 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
¶10. (SBU) We are struck by how far we have progressed in 
training for the Lao military in a very short time.  This is 
the second major AI program PACOM has supported in six 
months, and PACAF/SGZ also undertook a medical 
donation/nursing training/demonstration cleft palate surgery 
program in late September for Vientiane hospitals.  We are 
even more satisfied that the military medical personnel 
attending this workshop sat down and committed to paper a 
serious plan to implement training to prepare for an AI 
pandemic.  This was designed to be a "train the trainers" 
program, and the military plan provides the military 
personnel attending this workshop the basis necessary to 
return to their units to undertake or participate in further 
training.  Our responsibility is to find ways to support this 
process.  The Embassy expresses strong appreciation for 
PACAF/SGZ support and looks forward to continued cooperation. 
 
 
 
Huso