First Donors’ Biosafety and Biosecurity Conference in Ukraine

27 Nov 2019

The First Donors’ Biosafety and Biosecurity Conference in Ukraine was held in Kyiv, Ukraine, on 14-15 of November 2019. The Meeting was organized by the Ministry of Heath of Ukraine, Public Health Center and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine in cooperation with the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) of the United State of America.
The Conference was aimed at review of the international cooperation in area of Biosafety and Biosecurity (BS&S) in the framework of the international commitments of Ukraine and at the development of national strategic and tactical plans in BS&S and establishment of fruitful international partnership in the area.
The delegations and representatives of the key BS&S Partners and Donor countries took part in the event, in particular delegations from DTRA and CDC of the USA, delegations of the EC and Germany, experts of the WHO, OSCE, FAO, STCU, CRDF, and other international organizations.
The Minister of Health of Ukraine Dr. Zoryana Skaletska participated in the work of the conference and underlined that BS&S is extremely important for Ukraine, especially given the current epidemiological situation in Ukraine and rising risks as a result of the ongoing military conflict in the East of Ukraine. Experts and specialists agencies such as the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Commission on BS&S of the National Security and Defense of Ukraine, State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection, Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, State Border Service, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine reported about the activities, achievements and problems in the area of BS&S in Ukraine and pointed to possible opportunities for cooperation with the international community to not only improve the BS&S system in Ukraine, but also facilitate the integration of Ukraine into the global health system.
The STCU was invited to the First Donors’ Biosafety and Biosecurity Conference to present the organization and its efforts and experience in implementation of BS&S related projects in Ukraine as well as in other STCU Recipient countries. The STCU Executive Director Mr. Curtis Bjelajac delivered remarks on behalf of the United Kingdom Department of Defense (an STCU partner that was unable to attend) about the UK’s view of BS&S activities in Ukraine, and in particular the achievements of the UK MoD funded project via the STCU entitled, “Education and awareness-raising in Ukraine”, which was devoted to the introduction of modern BS&S and Bioethics training courses in the University education system in Ukraine. Dr. Vlada Pashynska, STCU Senior Specialist in Bio, presented at the Conference the report “Science and Technology Center in Ukraine: Working to Mitigate CBRN and Biosafety&Biosecurity Threats”.