“Cooperation and the sharing of experiences and methods have outstanding importance in the development of military medicine too”, Minister of Defence Csaba Hende said at the official opening of the “Force Health Protection NATO Conference 2014” in Budapest on Tuesday.
Military medicine and its development are prioritized areas in NATO’s defence planning process, the Minister of Defence stated, adding that he hopes that this conference, organized by the Budapest-based NATO Centre of Excellence for Military Medicine (NATO MILMED COE), will be a good opportunity to discuss future developments for conducting force health protection of deployed forces of NATO member states.
The speakers of the several-day conference, more than 200 representatives from 26 countries – military medical and public health professionals – give presentations on, among others, professional lessons identified and lessons learned during NATO’s 10-plus-year ISAF mission in Afghanistan.
In his speech, Minister Hende said that the Hungarian troops in Afghanistan had contributed a great deal to the development of local health care infrastructure and to increasing security. In addition, over the last few years they have learned useful lessons on missions, which will help increase the efficiency of military and civil health care systems in the future.
The Minister also said that, in the current economic environment, there is a need for cooperation among the nations in technological progress and health care developments, through finding the most effective solutions. The Minister of Defence is proud of the fact that the excellent Hungarian experts are efficiently contributing to this cooperation. The organizer of the present conference, the Budapest-based NATO Centre of Excellence for Military Medicine is a good example of what results from different nations pooling their resources, Minister Hende emphasized.
Among the key objectives of organizing the “Force Health Protection NATO Conference 2014” are to identify the lessons learned and the best practices used by the armed forces of the member states in the field of military medicine, and to promote communication about the topic in a wider community. The program includes issues such as health promotion and public health readiness; civilian and military experiences and matters in health risk assessment, medical information and medical intelligence; tropical and infectious diseases, risks and threats; occupational, environmental and industrial health hazards; preventive medicine and disease control, immunizations, chemoprophylaxis, pest and vector control; field sanitation, food and water hygiene; health surveillance; outbreak management; trauma prevention and wound care; medical evacuation; battle stress management and post-traumatic stress disorder; post-deployment health surveillance and veterans’ health follow up.