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Dr. Adel Zaki
from Namru March 17-20, 2010 Indus Hospital
WS 55 Kick-off meeting for CWA 15793 Doc
23-26TH February 2010 Brussels.
Biosafety
Training Events Dubai Jan 12-14, 2010
Certification
Course Dec 6th 2009
2nd
International Biosafety Seminar, Aga Khan Uni. Auditorium, Karachi Dec
05, 2009
Biosafety
Awareness program in Indus Hospital Nov 14, 2009
International
Conference on Emerging Zoonotic Infections, Cairo Oct 15-17, 2009
Workshop on
Biosafety Oct 05-09, 2009, Islamabad, Pakistan
Asean Regional Fourm Workshop Manila June
10-11, 2009
1st BACAC Conference May 18
-20 2009 Almaty Kazakhstan
2nd Seminar on
Biosafety April 05, 2009 Shoukat Khanum
Memorial Hospital, Lahore
1st
Seminar on Biosafety
March
21, 2009 Auditorium,
Agha Khan University Hospital, Karachi
PBSA Organized
Presentation 11th Feb 2010 Aga Khan University
Guest Lecture By
Dr. Terence Taylor
Launching of
PBSA July 2008 Islamabad
Dr
Aamer Ikram (Founder Member PBSA) has been selected by BWC Experts |
ASEAN Regional Forum
Workshop on Biological Threat Reduction
Manila, Philippines
June 10-11, 2009
Ms
Maqboola K Dojki (Executive Member PBSA) was part of Pakistan
Delegation to attend workshop on Biological Threat reduction organized
by ASEAN forum on June 10-11 2009 at Manila Philippines. This forum
was co hosted by Philippines and US State Department.
 
Pakistani delegation at ARF summit meeting and at International
Biological threat
reduction workshop
ASEAN Regional Forum Workshop on Biological Threat Reduction was held
on 10-11 June 2009 in Manila, Philippines. The Workshop was
co-chaired by Mr. Leo M. Herrera-Lim of the Philippines and Dr. Jason
Rao of the United States. In opening remarks, the co-chairs noted the
importance of countering threats posed by bioterrorism and the
emergence of infectious diseases and the important role that ARF could
play in the areas of biosafety and biosecurity.
The
Workshop was attended by representatives of Australia, Bangladesh,
Canada, China, the European Union, India, Indonesia, Japan, the
Republic of Korea, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongolia, New Zealand, Pakistan,
the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor Leste,
the United States, and Vietnam. Invited guests represented the
following organizations: UN Office of Disarmament Affairs, World
Health Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization, and INTERPOL,
Australian Department of Defense, Biological Weapons Convention (BWC)
Participants held the view that the presence of relevant
inter-governmental organizations greatly enhanced the effectiveness of
the discussion.
International and National Efforts to Mitigate Biological Threats
Presentations were made by Invited guests and representative of all
the participating countries about their efforts to mitigate Biological
threats .Dr Riaz Qamar from DESTO gave presentation from Pakistan.
During the presentations, many participants recognized that equipment
for biosafety and biosecurity is expensive. Some participants called
for more transfers of technology to assist countries in enhancing
capability to respond to biological threats.Many participants noted
implementation of UNSCR 1540 will assist in improving capacity to
respond to biological threats. All participants called for greater
international cooperation and recognized the ARF as a valuable venue
for continuing the discussion of biological threat mitigation.
During the discussion periods, participants raised questions on
laboratory accreditation procedures, on how the human health and
veterinary sectors could interoperate, on joint public health and law
enforcement investigations, on how mitigation of biological threat can
be incorporated politically in defense policy without immediate
threats, and on the effectiveness of past training programs.
Participants also discussed specific issues in transporting reference
cultures from other countries and the need to include laboratory
ethics, biosafety, and biosecurity training within all stages of
academia.
Working Group Discussions
On
the second day of the Workshop, participants were divided into three
working groups, in order to foster exchange and continue to share
national experiences on preventing, detecting, and responding to
biological threats within the ARF region and beyond. Working group
discussed and developed best practices for:
1. Preventing Biological Threats; 2. Detecting and Identifying
Biological Threats; and 3. Controlling and Responding to Biological
Threats.
The
Working Group on Preventing Biological Threats
discussed the implications of working with various pathogens,
including zoonoses. Drawing from their individual backgrounds and
technical expertise, participants shared experiences and insights.
Specific issues regarding pathogen inventory, the select agent list,
how to determine whether the act was accidental or deliberate,
personnel reliability, how to communicate within an agency and between
agencies were examined. Participants also discussed how we can
prioritize limited funding. Participants stressed that there was a
need to foster interagency channels of communication. There was
general agreement that the public health sectors, law enforcement, and
academia were key players in the over-all scheme of promoting
biological security.
The
Working Group on Detecting and Identifying Biological Threats
worked through a presented scenario involving a fictional country
needing to respond to a biological incident while preparing for a
major international sporting event. It underscored the need to
emphasize public health and law enforcement responses to an infectious
disease outbreak of unknown origin.
The
Working Group on Controlling and Responding
worked through a presented scenario involving a fictional country
needing to respond to a biological incident while preparing for a
major international sporting event. The Working Group recommended
strengthening national plan for a comprehensive response, enhancing
capacity and encouraging funding to improve response capability to
biological threats.
Conclusions and Steps Forward
The
Co-chairs reiterated the need for further cooperation within the ARF
on mitigating biological threats. In this context, the United States
announced it would put forward a document on Cooperation in Combating
Global Biological Threats and Preventing Bioterrorism including the
recommended best practices arising from the working group sessions.
This statement would be proposed for consideration by Senior
Officials’ Meeting to recommend to Ministers for endorsement at the 17th
ASEAN Regional Forum Ministerial Meeting in 2010.
Group photograph of Workshop participants with organizers
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