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Deliberate Biothreat Events Workshop

Introduction

The inaugural Deliberate Biothreat Events (DBE) workshop was organised by the Asia Centre for Health Security (ACHS) and held in Singapore on 11–12 September 2025. Through a series of interactive talks, discussions, and scenarios, the workshop provided participants with an overview of current issues in preparedness and response for DBE, with particular emphasis on the Asia-Pacific region.

The participants hailed from across Asia-Pacific, with representatives from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Brunei, Thailand, Philippines, Lao PDR, India, China, Japan, Republic of Korea, and Australia. The workshop brought together experts from a diverse range of disciplines including healthcare, public health, policy, defense, and law enforcement.

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Programme outline

Attendance at the workshop was by invitation. Over the course of the two days, the sessions covered: 

  • An overview of DBE
  • Elements of public health preparedness, and emergency and surge capacity planning
  • WHO training modules for first responders and public health professionals to manage deliberate events
  • Challenges in laboratory surveillance and confirmation
  • Challenges in coordinating clinical, laboratory, and public health responses
  • Staff readiness in handling DBE and stockpiles of medical countermeasures
  • Forensic and security aspects, law enforcement and military perspectives, and the roles of national and international laws in DBE
  • Discussions on gaps and emerging threats in the DBE landscape as well as ways to manage them

Keynote speakers & faculty

Professor Raina MacIntyre

Head, Biosecurity Program, Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales, Australia

Dr Sophie Allain Ioos

Technical Officer, Bio-risk Management and Biosafety (BMB) Unit, World Health Organization (WHO)

Adjunct Associate Professor Poh Lian Lim

Lead, Biorisk Management, Asia Centre for Health Security, Group Director, Communicable Diseases Programmes, Communicable Diseases Agency (CDA), Singapore

Mr Edwin Goh

Group Director, Crisis Strategy and Operations Group (CSOG), Ministry of Health (MOH), Singapore

Ms May Ong

Director, CBRNE Center of Expertise, Home Team Science and Technology Agency (HTX) Singapore

Contact us

For any enquiries about the Deliberate Biothreat Events Workshop, please contact achs@nus.edu.sg