The European Union has announced an investment of €3.5 million (K5.48 billion) into a regional project that will assist in increasing biosecurity in Southeast Asia and help governments to offer better responses to highly communicable diseases or global biological events. The BIOSEC-Enhanced Biosecurity in Southeast Asia project will be headed by the European Union Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Risk Mitigation Centres of Excellence. The agency will work with 10 Southeast Asian countries and 51 partner countries in seven other regions to address CBRN risks of criminal, accidental or natural nature like pandemics. On March 10, 40 experts from Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore and Vietnam met in Nay Pyi Taw to start the three-year project that will work with governments in the region on biosecurity and biosecurity risk management.

The European Union has announced an investment of €3.5 million (K5.48 billion) into a regional project that will assist in increasing biosecurity in Southeast Asia and help governments to offer better responses to highly communicable diseases or global biological events.

The BIOSEC-Enhanced Biosecurity in Southeast Asia project will be headed by the European Union Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Risk Mitigation Centres of Excellence. The agency will work with 10 Southeast Asian countries and 51 partner countries in seven other regions to address CBRN risks of criminal, accidental or natural nature like pandemics.

On March 10, 40 experts from Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore and Vietnam met in Nay Pyi Taw to start the three-year project that will work with governments in the region on biosecurity and biosecurity risk management.

Biosecurity refers to access control and security procedures to reduce the risk of transmission of infectious diseases. It also includes the prevention of malicious use of dangerous pathogens or toxins against humans, livestock or crops.

In order to be able to ensure a quick and effective response, surveillance systems with rapid detection capacities, close coordination between human and animal health authorities and efficient reporting to other key sectors are necessary.

“Biosecurity is about saving lives, as the COVID-19 outbreak unfortunately remind us. Strong international cooperation is the way to contain the spread of highly communicable diseases in our modern world,” said EU Ambassador Kristian Schmidt on the launch of the new BIOSEC Enhanced Biosecurity in South-East Asia project.

The rapid spread of the coronavirus has demonstrated the critical importance of effective cross-border cooperation and efficient biosecurity risk management systems to respond to highly communicable diseases and epidemics.

“The project will support interested countries to update national inventories of high-risk biological materials and to improve their laboratory capacity to identify accurately the type and source of disease-causing agents,” said U Win Khaing Moe, director general of the Department of Research and Innovation in the Ministry of Education. 

(The Myanmar Times: https://www.mmtimes.com/news/eu-pours-million-raising-biosecurity-southeast-asia.html )

​