Within the framework of the European Union Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Centre of Excellence Risk Mitigation Initiative (EU CBRN CoE), the CBRN South East Asia Regional Secretariat has launched the webinar series on COVID-19 to enable partner countries to share experiences and good practices related to the on-going crisis.
In this forum, epidemiologists, clinicians, laboratory professionals, policy makers and health care volunteers involved in the COVID-19 response in 10 South-East Asian countries are invited to share their knowledge and expertise.
The webinar series is intended for professionals responsible for pandemic response, including healthcare professionals, heads of healthcare institutions, public health administrators and health policy makers involved in prevention, preparedness and response against infectious disease outbreaks, and international agencies involved in biological risk management activities.
The goal of the initiative is to bring professionals in the region together to share knowledge on a wide range of important topics and to provoke conversations that will not only strengthen on-going COVID-19 response activities, but also help prevent and prepare for future health emergencies, including future pandemics.
To date, the following partner countries (with the support of each country's respective National Focal Point) have led webinars on the following subjects:
- 1st webinar, 26 May 2020 (Thailand) - "Success Stories of Quarantine Strategy: Experience from Thailand"
- 2nd webinar, 9 June 2020 (Cambodia, Institute Pasteur of Cambodia) - "Using existing networks for future COVID-19 surveillance: From 'pandemic' to 'endemic'"
- 3rd webinar, 23 June 2020 (Singapore and Republic of South Korea) -
"Communicating Critical Public Health and Safety Risks to Leadership" hosted in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Western Pacific - 4th webinar, 7 July 2020 (Myanmar) - "Grassroots Efforts to Combat COVID-19: Myanmar's Community Fever Clinics"
- 5th webinar, 21 July 2020 (Brunei Darussalam) - "Brunei Darussalam COVID-19 Laboratory Construction Experience: Translating Success from Beginning to End"
- 6th webinar, 4 August 2020 (led by CoE Project 81 consortium) - "An Overview of International Activities in Response to COVID-19"
- 7th webinar, 18 August 2020 (led by CoE Project 81 consortium) - "An Overview of International Activities in Response to COVID-19 – Part 2"
The webinar series has been the EU CBRN CoE Regional Secretariat's flagship effort to respond to COVID-19. To date the webinars have involved more than 300 participants.
UNICRI is supporting Member States in addressing challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Together with the European Union, the Institute is working with 61 partner countries in 8 regional secretariats on chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear risk mitigation in the fight against the pandemic by ensuring knowledge sharing and dissemination of good practices.