Collaborating Centres

WHO Collaborating Centres are institutions designated by the Director-General of WHO that form a part of an international collaborative network carrying out activities in support of the Organization's programmes in countries, regions and at headquarters.

Today, there are more than 175 WHO collaborating centres in the Western Pacific, who provide wide-ranging expertise on issues ranging from traditional medicine to health systems development to serving as global or regional reference laboratories for specific diseases.

Ms Benedicte Galichet
Technical Officer and Regional Focal Point for WHO Collaborating Centres
[email protected]

Ms Catherine Malsi
Regional Focal Point Assistant
[email protected]

For more than 30 years, the National Institute of Parasitic Diseases (NIPD), Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC), Shanghai, has been a WHO Collaborating Centre for malaria, schistosomiasis and filariasis. Specialized in research and control of parasitic diseases, the NIPD was established by the national government 60 years ago to provide expertise and technical assistance for disease control to endemic countries. In China, the NIPD has greatly contributed to the formulation of national criteria on research and control parasitic diseases – including the elimination of filariasis. Through these efforts, malaria has almost been eliminated from the country and schistosomiasis transmission has been interrupted from 5 provinces. The NIPD collaborates with the WHO Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases, and the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases. It also works with the WHO departments to support networking of national and international researchers and scientists on neglected tropical diseases.

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