Opart Karnkawinpong, M.D., the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Public Health (former Director General of the Department of Disease Control) has outstanding public health work that creates value for society and the country. He is an expert in Preventive Medicine (Epidemiology, Maritime Medicine, Traffic Medicine, Travel Medicine, and Lifestyle Medicine) Clinical Preventive Medicine, Family Medicine, and Internal Medicine. His work to update Communicable Diseases Act B.E.2523 to Communicable Diseases Act B.E.2558 is an important tool and mechanism for Thailand to deal with communicable diseases and epidemics more efficiently than in the past. When the COVID-19 pandemic occurred, it was used concretely and has great results to save people's life (Thailand had fully vaccinated at least 82%, with around 500,000 case‐recovery rates). Under his management, the Department of Disease Control received the most prestigious international award “the United Nations Public Service Awards (UNPSA) 2021” for the Department’s initiative titled “Intelligent and Sustainable Public Health Emergency System in Thailand," which enhances the response to emergency and health threats and seeks to achieve two Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), namely, Goal 3 and Goal 17.

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