Vientiane, LAO PDR – On September 16, 2021, the US Ambassador to Laos, Dr. Peter M. Haymond, the Minister of Health Dr. Bounfeng Phoummalaysith at the Department of Health’s Nutrition Center as part of the US Lao-American Nutrition New Facilities and Classroom Initiative (LANI). The ceremony was held with officials from the Secretary of Health, the U.S. Embassy, and the CRS.
The ceremony included the official opening of several refurbished classrooms at the center with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the CRS Applied Nutrition Research Capacity Building Project (ANRCB). These rooms include an equipped classroom, meeting room, resource library, demonstration room and offices for the ANRCB project.
“The United States is proud to hand over these facilities to our valued partner, the PDR Laos Department of Health. The health cooperation is a pillar of our comprehensive partnership, which is celebrating its 5th anniversary this year. We will continue to support Laos PDR in improving its nutritional outcomes and promoting the well-being of the people of Laos, ”said Ambassador Haymond.
The United States Army Corps of Engineers built the LANI systems in three phases through the Indo-Pacific Command of the US Department of Defense (USINDOPACOM). The first two construction phases included a building for a clinical translation research center, a building for teaching administration and a cafeteria, as well as the development of the infrastructure for the provision of electricity and water on site. With this ceremony, the third and final phase of the project is officially handed over, which consists of a student dormitory, a traditional “Lao-style” demonstration kitchen and a combined garden and greenhouse. The total value of the humanitarian aid project is US $ 4.6 million. In the five years of the extensive partnership between the US and Laos, the US Department of Defense, in coordination with USACE, has completed over 20 humanitarian aid construction projects and currently has four ongoing projects.
CRS Country Representative Joshua Poole said, “We are delighted to be managing the LANI space with the Department of Health. The use of the space is not only open to our project partners, but to all interest groups from the multisectoral food landscape who need a training room. Please contact our staff to find out how we can work with you. “
These buildings and classrooms will be a platform for nutritional medicine and research professionals to collaborate and provide solutions to improve nutrition in the Laos DPR. Indiana University, Purdue University, the National Nutrition Strategy and Plan of Action, the University of Health Sciences, and the Lao Tropical and Public Health Institute are collaborating to develop training courses that focus on improving capacities to conduct and use nutritional research in the DPR Focus on Laos. These institutions will accomplish this goal by increasing the capacity to provide essential nutritional research services at the Center for Nutrition with an emphasis on anthropometrics, improving nutritional understanding and research quality, and improving the coordination of nutritional research between government ministries, academics, NGOs and private actors.
