The ASEAN Foundation has therefore initiated the Communication and Information System for the Control of Avian Influenza (CISCAI) project with financial support from the Japan-ASEAN Solidarity Fund provided by the Government of Japan. The project aims to deploy a set of information technologies that will shortly be field tested initially in two selected pilot countries, namely, Lao PDR and Viet Nam. The purpose of the study is to gauge the performance of these developed systems in terms of the hardware, software and people-ware aspects, in order to provide the requisite and timely information for concerned officials to act on in a rapid manner for the effective control and management of AI outbreaks. The CISCAI Project is expected to run for 3 years with a budget of around USD 1 million.

The ASEAN Foundation has recently given a grant amounting to USD 54,440 to Bangkok-based National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre (NECTEC) to provide technical backstopping services for the two country teams: Lao PDR and Viet Nam. Researchers from NECTEC, led by Dr. Kitti Wongthavarawat, will act as consultants to the project during the design and implementation of the field trials on new wireless technologies.

The agreement for the financial grant was signed by Dr. Filemon A. Uriarte, Jr., Executive Director of ASEAN Foundation and Dr. Asanee Kawtrakul, Deputy Director of NECTEC during a signing ceremony held on 20 August 2008 at NECTEC, Thailand Science Park, Pathumthani, Thailand.

source : CISCAI (20 August 2008, Bangkok, Thailand)