LepCon or the Prevention and Control of Leptospirosis in the Philippines is a research program on leptospirosis that is made possible through the collaboration of between the University of the Philippine Manila – College of Public Health (UPM-CPH), Kyushu University (KU), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (PCHRD-DOST).

Two years after its implementation, the LepCon program has yielded outstanding results. Successful researches under the program were presented at the 1st Scientific Symposium on the Prevention of Leptospirosis in the Philippines, held at the UPM-CPH Auditorium on the 26^th of January 2012.

The ongoing research on leptospirosis vaccine took the center stage in the symposium, Dr. Jaime C. Montoya, Executive Director of the PCHRD-DOST, enlightened everyone on the praise-worthy partnerships made by the participating bodies. He commended the collaboration between PCHRD, JICA, UPM-CPH, KU and WHO on the LepCon program. He described why it is very important for organizations to come together for a common cause. He said, â€œThe beauty of having partners and collaborators is the resource sharing, sense of community and shared responsibilities among the entities.

Dr. Montoya mentioned that limited budget can be a huge stumbling block for any R&D project. Therefore, building a partnership with the organizations who share the same cause is the best way to continue the project while taking full advantage of the available, but limited, resources.

He explained, â€œBy sustaining and increasing our collaboration in our research initiatives and our revitalized efforts to promote research and development to address the major health concerns of the country, we would be able to maximize the use of our available resources.