Second phase of biosafety and biosecurity project; prevention of spread of infectious diseases

Description What is done in the programme or project and why, what results are pursued, who benefits from the activities and who are involved in the implementation.

Biosafety and biosecurity related projects aim at building capacity in developing countries to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. This project aims at preventing unintentional and intentional spread of infections diseases by supporting biosecurity projects in the developing countries. The existence and outbreaks of diseases that are dangerous to life place great strains to the national healthcare systems. Efforts to identify microbes that cause infectious diseases are vital to any nation’s public health system. The Finnish Centre for Biothreat Preparedness (BUOS)/Centre for Military Medicine will administer and implement biosecurity project that will strengthen the know-how of making diagnosis of infectious diseases in Tanzania.This project is a 5-year extension for a project begun in 2014 and will terminate in the end of 2018. The project totals 750 000 Euros. The project can be seen as a national commitment of Finland for, inter alia, Global Health Security Agenda, BTCW and the biological component of the Global Partnership of G7. Local expertise, detection abilities and developing of biosecurity know-how reduces potential biothreat. The project strengthens capacity in Tanzania but also builds global security. The goal of the ICI-programme is to further strenghten the capacity reached during the first phase and strive towards sustainable and reliable management of biothreat surveillance and to ensure independent and sustainable continuity of the activities. The Tanzania Veterinary Laboratory Agency, belonging to public health sector, continues as the main collaborator.