Michelle Nalabandian
Program Officer, Global Biological Policy and Programs
Hayley
Severance and Michelle
Nalabandian from NTI’s biosecurity program (NTI | bio) joined government
officials and experts from around the world in Geneva, Switzerland this week for
the Biological
Weapons Convention (BWC) 2018 Meeting of Experts on Assistance, Response
and Preparedness (MX4), to highlight the importance of advancing preparedness
and response for deliberate biological events.
As part of the MX4, NTI | bio and the Georgetown
University Center for Global Health Science & Security on Aug. 15 held a
side event, “Advancing Preparedness & Response to Deliberate Biological Events.”
The event: previewed an upcoming senior-level tabletop exercise that will elucidate
recommendations to strengthen response capabilities of international
organizations and humanitarian responders for deliberate biological events;
highlighted an online, interactive tool that maps activities and stakeholders during
a deliberate biological event; and showcased original research that identifies
and compares requests for Member States’ assistance.
NTI | bio also briefed international experts
on the NTI
Global Biosecurity Dialogue. This is a new, cross-sectoral dialogue
to elicit concrete national and regional actions to advance biosecurity and
biosafety policy frameworks, in-country capabilities, and new approaches to
reduce risks associated with emerging threats. Recommendations from the Global
Biosecurity Dialogue were also provided to the Biological Security Working
Group of the Global
Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction.
Read more about NTI’s biosecurity
program here.
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NTI | bio convened experts from around the world from governments, industry, and civil society in Cape Town, South Africa to discuss emerging biological risks and offer actions to address them.
NTI | bio convened two working groups of international biosecurity experts to discuss policy and institutional considerations, and technical operations for the Joint Assessment Mechanism (JAM) to identify the source of high-consequence biological outbreaks of unknown origin.
Jaime Yassif called on government leaders to take urgent steps to strengthen biosafety and biosecurity policy and practices during a hearing convened by the U.S. House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic.