BIRD FLU (Surveillance and early detection)

Column No : 1961

BIRD FLU:

(Surveillance and early detection): 6.

Dr Lily Neo asked the Minister for Health whether Singapore will (i) join the United Nations, United States of America and World Bank in the surveillance and early detection of bird flu to prevent a possible human flu pandemic; and (ii) offer to be the regional centre for the various agencies to be based here, in view of our strategic location in Southeast Asia and proximity to countries affected by bird flu.

The Minister for Health (Mr Khaw Boon Wan): Mr Speaker, Sir, Singapore is a small but active player in the global fight against a possible human flu pandemic. In this fight, the best strategy is to try to prevent one from happening at all.

First, we need to persuade countries to reform their farming practices and raise the hygiene standard of their wet markets. Calls for reform are now increasingly being heard at international forums like the WHO (World Health Organisation) and APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation). We have been adding our voices to such calls.

Second, countries must enhance their surveillance and early detection systems, for both bird flu and human flu. This requires strong international collaboration so that essential information can be shared in a timely manner. Some countries will require assistance in expertise and extra resources.

Our resources are limited but where we can make a meaningful contribution to global public health, we will. We do this at several levels.

Bilaterally, we have been working with our neighbours, to share expertise and experience. For example, we have a collaborative project with Indonesia.

This was discussed last year by and agreed to between Prime Minister Lee and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. We are providing Indonesia with training, laboratory testing support, equipment and medical supplies to help them build capacity to deal with this common challenge.

At the multilateral level, we work through the WHO and the OIE (World Organisation for Animal Health) to promote early detection and greater transparency.

Third, when an outbreak of human flu pandemic occurs anywhere in the world, we need rapid response to investigate the outbreak and if possible, to isolate it. This requires prompt and effective intervention. That is why Singapore decided to join a network called the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN). This network was set up in 2000 to pool together the technical resources of member partners to respond to outbreaks. It provides another useful platform for international collaboration. Last month, we hosted the GOARN Steering Committee Meeting in Singapore, and had a very good meeting.

Apart from these activities, a recent initiative is worth highlighting. At the last APEC Summit in South Korea, Prime Minister Lee, President Yudhoyono and President Bush decided to start a pilot project in Indonesia on the control of bird flu. This is still at the planning stage but the objective is to see how we can execute, within a defined area in Indonesia, all the measures recommended by the expert agencies such as the WHO and the OIE. The project can then be a model of preventive and control strategies, which can be extended to the rest of Indonesia. I think the experience should be of value to other countries. We are involving other countries and other partners such as the World Bank, the WHO and the OIE to contribute both resources and expertise.

And as pointed out by Dr Lily Neo, our location in Southeast Asia in proximity to many bird flu-infected countries makes us a natural partner in such regional collaborative activities. We certainly welcome international organisations to base themselves in Singapore where it is beneficial for them to do so.

One example is the Regional Emerging Diseases Intervention (REDI) Centre at Biopolis. This was jointly established by Singapore and the US, to serve as a regional node for research and coordinating efforts to deal with emerging transnational diseases. In the area of bird flu, the REDI Centre has been tasked by APEC last year to draw up a list of resources and experts that could be called upon to respond to an emergency outbreak situation. The REDI Centre will also play a role in the Indonesian pilot project that I mentioned earlier.

Dr Lily Neo (Jalan Besar): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Minister mentioned earlier the Singapore-Jakarta project to control bird flu. May I ask him when will this pilot surveillance system start? Do we have other partners like the United States and World Health Organisation? And will this surveillance system be expanded to neighbouring places like Batam and Bintan? Lastly, may I also ask the Minister when will he decide on the investment of our vaccine production facility in our preparedness against flu pandemic and how long does this take to set up?

Mr Khaw Boon Wan: Mr Speaker, the pilot bird flu project with Indonesia, as I have said, was agreed to last November at the APEC meeting. And we have moved very quickly. A few days after the APEC meeting, I went over to Jakarta, met up with my counterpart and Vice-President, Yusuf Kalla because President Yudhoyono happened to be overseas at that point in time. We have managed to get the working people together. They have already had two working meetings, one in Jakarta and one in Batam. And the third meeting has already been scheduled. We are hoping to start a trilateral meeting with US early next month, probably during the first week, soon after Chinese New Year, and then progressively, we will involve other partners. It is a massive international project. We want to involve as many partners as possible. US has already come on board but there are many interested neighbours who are keen to join in - Australia, Japan and the other international agencies like World Bank would like to help out too. So it is something that we are working very actively on. We have already identified the province because Indonesia is a very large place. We have decided on one province near Jakarta with a population of about 1.5 million people for us to put in systems and to test them out and whatever work there, we can quickly roll out to the rest of Indonesia.

Batam and Bintan would certainly be involved because they are closest to us and also we got to know the people there very well, particularly after the tsunami, when we helped them actively and built up a very strong network of friendship and the experts are all at first-name telephone contact level, which is essential in any public health response system.

As for Singapore's vaccine manufacturing plant, we have been working on this for two years now, but you cannot rush it as these are multinationals. It must make economic sense for them to want to set up a plant here. We will try to make it sensible for them to want to set up something here but it is something you cannot rush, and I remain hopeful that eventually, we will see a vaccine plant in Singapore.