Coordination of Biosafety and Biodefense Policies in Indonesia
Activity, Meeting, Workshop

Coordination of Biosafety and Biodefense Policies in Indonesia

The attendees of coordination workshop

The attendees of coordination workshop

In order to continue the efforts to develop national policies regarding the implementation of the Laboratory Biorisiko Management System that has been done before, INDOHUN-OHLN continues to support the strengthening of biosafety and biosecurity programs in Indonesia. In response to that issue, on March 2, 2020, INDOHUN-OHLN held a Biocecurity and Biodefense Program Coordination and Advocacy Meeting in Indonesia held at JS Luwansa Hotel, Jakarta. Surely this activity is expected to be a forum for coordination and cooperation across government and non-government bodies in terms of implementing biosecurity and biodefense programs in Indonesia.

This activity was attended by representatives from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Indonesia, the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and the Faculty of Agriculture from the Bogor Institute of Agriculture, Head of the Eijkman Institute, representatives of the Ministry of Defense, the Indonesian National Army, the Balitbangkes, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI). In general, the purpose of implementing this agenda is to socialize the initiation and advocacy of biosecurity and biodefense programs, facilitate communication and coordination between stakeholders from relevant Ministries and Institutions, and discuss the process of national policy formation on Select Agents in Indonesia.

The meeting activities ere divided into two agendas, namely panelist sessions and discussion sessions. In the first session, representatives from the Ministry of Defense explained the scope of work of their institutions in the efforts of biosecurity and biodefense in Indonesia through laboratories. Based on his presentation, the implementation of biosecurity and biodefense should be coordinated through an institutional system and supported by applicable policies. Furthermore, the panelist session continued with the presentation from LIPI representatives who said that the organization is currently in the stage of submitting national policies around the utilization of microorganisms in the laboratory. After the panelist session ended, the audience gave input and discussed topics relevant to the discussion in accordance with the perspective of each institution. In this session, many new things were received by each participant and certainly had the same view; namely the implementation of biosecurity and biodefense in Indonesia must be carried out in an integrated manner and regulated in the best possible policy.

Then in the second session, the audience focused on drafting Select Agents on humans/animals and also on plants. Various experts invited were invited to contribute their knowledge and input on the list of Select Agents in accordance with predetermined criteria. This activity produced a draft Select Agents that had been compiled together so that it could become a guide for further analysis going forward in the process of preparing biosecurity and biodefense policies in Indonesia.

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