Diabetes is a significant problem worldwide and especially for developing countries including Thailand, where the disease has increased in prevalence rapidly, resulting in high healthcare expenditure and loss of productivity due to illness and premature death. Thailand has adopted multiple policies to control diabetes, such as screening through annual health checkups for people aged 35 and over, increasing healthcare access in rural communities, and developing diabetes clinical practice guidelines to improve the quality of care. However, multiple national health surveys still showed a rising pattern of diabetes in the country. To help understand and tackle the problem, we created a 10-year cohort using data from the national health exam survey (NHES) as a starting point and followed the population by linking to healthcare utilization and expenditure data from the universal health coverage scheme, the main health insurance program in Thailand. With this cohort, we study 3 topics. The first is to understand the burden of diabetes in the Thai health service system by calculating incidence of diabetes and its complications. Furthermore, we will identify factors which affect diabetes incidence and therefore can be used to create evidence-based control policies. Second, we seek to identify the bottleneck between each step in the “cascade of care” (screening, starting and adhering to treatment, and controlling disease). Finally, we will compare healthcare utilization patterns, expenditure, and outcomes related to diabetes between the overall population and vulnerable subgroups to identify factors that prevent vulnerable populations from obtaining better health outcomes.

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In connection with the 100th anniversary of Yenching University, the opening ceremony of the Stuart Conference Room (SCR) was held at the Stanford Center at Peking University (SCPKU) on October 8. We were honored by the attendance of Isabel Crook, recent recipient of the Medal of Friendship awarded by President Jinping Xi, Mr. Liliang He, former Deputy Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Mingyi Wei, an alumnus of Yenching University and former president of the CITIC Group.

The Executive Director of SCPKU Mr. Jiashu Cheng delivered a welcoming speech and pointed out that the Stanford Center, as a bridge of cultural communication between China and US, is committed to promoting the mutual understanding and the mutual progress between the two countries. He also stated that the ceremony was being held in appreciation of Dr. John Leighton Stuart’s great efforts and his contributions to furthering US-China relations, especially the establishment of Yenching University, which are legendary and remain an inspiration to this day.

Jean Oi, a chaired professor in the political science department of Stanford University and Director of SCPKU expressed her sincere gratitude to Mr. Jiashu Cheng and his wife Mrs. Wan Xu for their generous donations. She emphasized that this multi-functional video conference room has the means to greatly advance the efforts started by Yenching University and Dr. Stuart to further strengthen cross-straits development and cooperation in education, science and technology, culture and many other fields.

The technology of SCR is a US-China joint effort. The state-of-the-art telecommunication / video conference technology is a product of Cisco Corporation of the United States, while the LED screen display technology comes from China’s Leyard Group. The SCR allows faculties and students from Chinese Universities who are sitting at SCPKU to connect, in real time, with more than 250 classrooms, labs, conference facilities and offices at Stanford University. Classes can be taught with teachers and students interacting in real time on both sides of the Pacific. The Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) performed an inaugural trial run of the system a couple weeks ago, when students at the GSB held a joint class with Peking University’s Yenching Academy students who attended the class in the SCR.

Celebrated for its natural beauty and its abundance of wildlife, the Mekong River runs thousands of miles through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Its basin is home to more than 70 million people and has for centuries been one of the world's richest agricultural areas and a biodynamic wonder. Today, however, it is undergoing profound changes. Development policies, led by a rising China in particular, aim to interconnect the region and urbanize the inhabitants. A series of dams will harness the river's energy.  But they will also disrupt its natural cycles and cut off food supplies for swathes of the population.  Based on conversations with the diverse people he has encountered from the Mekong’s headwaters in China to its delta in southern Vietnam, Eyler will review and assess the urgent struggle to save the Mekong and its unique ecosystem.  Copies of his latest book, Last Days of the Mighty Mekong (2019), will be available for sale.

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