The National Training Center for Biosafety and Biosecurity (NTCBB) under the UP Manila National Institutes of Health held a ceremony for the 5th Philippine Advanced Biorisk Officer’s Training (PhABOT) graduates on February 1, 2019.
The PhABOT is a five-week intensive training which provides participants with new knowledge on the biological risks of emerging and reemerging infectious diseases and microorganisms, all aimed to improve Philippine public health. Given in three sessions over a period of one year, it is done through interactive lectures based on Global Biological Risk Management Curriculum modules, group exercises and workshops, handson demonstrations, and field application trips to other facilities.
For this and for the previous four batches, the NTCBB is conducting the training jointly with the Biosecurity Engagement Program (BEP) of the U.S. Department of State Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation Office of Cooperative Threat Reduction. This is in conjunction with other institutions such as the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and global agencies specializing in various areas of biosecurity.
“Today marks our fifth run of the ABOT program. We have created a lot of programs for the country and generated new expertise and stellar graduates who created their own programs and societies to increase advocacy and knowledge base in biosecurity and biosafety in the Philippines,” NTCBB Director Raul Destura told the 23 graduates composed of researchers, educators, administrators, and medical practitioners from different universities, hospitals, and other institutions in the country.
He disclosed that the NTCBB would release online courses or programs in the next couple of years for the skills development of the advanced officers.
Major Jason Turner of the US Army and DTRA chief stated that their mission is to enable the Department of Defense and their international partners to counter and deter weapons of mass destruction. “Obviously a biological pathogen, whether accidentally released or intentionally released, qualifies for such a concern and frankly, we care about stuff that isn’t necessarily zoonic in nature as well. DTRA’s approach to dealing with these issues is to understand the networks that enable them. We try to understand the networks of how that happened. There are various networks as well for terrorism purposes. The great thing about you is that being CBOs, you are now part of the network that counters those other networks,” added Maj. Turner.
In addition to the holding of the ABOT program, UP Manila is a contributor to the ongoing development of the National Biorisk Framework of the Philippines through the NTCBB in collaboration with the NIH’s Institute for Health Policy and Development Studies. This framework will contain the pillars, hallmarks, and guideposts of biorisk assessment and management that will help significantly in making public health communities, policy makers, institutions and researchers aware of biological risks and their mitigation.
CHARMAINE LINGDAS | Published in UP Manila Healthscape No. 372 (January – February 2019)
