Threat of pandemics not over yet: State Health Department
Published on: Wednesday, March 06, 2024
Dr Maria with the participants of 2024 Biorisk Advisor Twinning Programme during their visit to the Kota Kinabalu Public Health Laboratory.
Kota Kinabalu: Well-established biosafety and biosecurity laboratories are required here to diagnose highly infectious pathogens such as Covid-19 and SARS safely and securely, said State Health Department (JKNS) Deputy Director (Public Health) Dr Maria Suleiman.
Dr Maria said this is to prevent deadly diseases in humans and reduce risks to healthcare workers, specifically laboratory personnel.
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She reminded that the threat of pandemics is not over yet and emerging infectious diseases may appear anytime.
“Key factors that should be focused on here include biosafety and biosecurity of humans and animals in all areas, in order to handle any potential health risks of biological agents,” she said.
She added that a concern is that based on the assessments conducted such as by the World Health Organisation Joint External Evaluation and the yearly electronic
State Party Annual Report (eSPAR), there is a significant gap in biosafety and biosecurity among most of Asean member states.
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“Thus, laboratories have to be prepared for any eventuality for the survival of the region, and this can be achieved through a collaborative effort to strengthen laboratory capacities.
“This is especially in light of the challenge of the emergence and re-emergence of a few potent and highly infectious diseases which pose significant public health risks and considerably threatens the lives of humans as well as animals in our region and all around the world,” she said.
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Dr Maria said this when launching a five-day kick-off meeting here, Monday, to initiate a six-month mentorship of the 2024 Biorisk Advisor Twinning Programme.
Conducted by the Public Health Laboratory Network (RPHLN) in collaboration with the National Public Health Laboratory, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Defence Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and Sandia National Laboratory (SNL) of United States of America, the programme aims to empower trainees in the field and provide them with recognised certification to be subject matter experts on biorisk management for the region.
Dr Maria lauded the programme, which also saw the participants visit the Kota Kinabalu Public Health Laboratory, saying Malaysia supports RPHLN’s efforts to address the biosecurity and biosafety gap among most of the Asean member states.
“Malaysia looks forward to working with RPHLN for this event and other activities as listed in the RPHLN Work Plan in the future,” she said.
Also present in the meeting were Jintana Sriwongsa, Regional Coordinator for RPHLN; Dr Khanchit Limpakanjanarat, Advisor on International Cooperation, Department of Disease Control (DDC) and Department of Medical Sciences (DMSc), Ministry of Public Health Thailand; Jessica Spencer, Indo-Pacific Regional Manager Biological Threat Reduction Program (BTRP), Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA); Eric Cook, Corporate Biosafety Officer of Sandia National Laboratory (SNL); and Dr Nik Jasmin Nik Mahir, the Director of National Public Health Laboratory, Ministry of Health Malaysia and Malaysia Focal Point for RPHLN.
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