July 01, 2024

HSP in collaboration with the U.S. State Department's Biosecurity Engagement Program (BEP) and the International Science and Technology Center (ISTC)

Health Security Partners (HSP), in collaboration with the U.S. State Department's Biosecurity Engagement Program (BEP) and the International Science and Technology Center (ISTC), supported eight HSP Challenge Grants to improve biosafety, biosecurity, and cybersecurity in the Republic of Tajikistan and the Kyrgyz Republic. In the Republic of Tajikistan, the partner institutions included the State Institution "National Reference Laboratory,” Center for State Sanitary and Epidemiological Surveillance of Dushanbe, the Institute of Botany, Plant Physiology and Genetics, and the Institute of Chemistry, the National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan. In the Kyrgyz Republic, the partner institutions included The Export Control Center, the National Center for Phthisiology under the Ministry of Health of the Kyrgyz Republic (NCF), and the Osh anti-plague Department of the Republican Center for Quarantine and Particularly Dangerous Infections (OPO RCKiOOI). Through the challenge grant projects, a total of 6 step-down trainings were conducted, and 7 standard operating procedures (SOPs) were developed. Over 200 participants benefited from the subsequent step-down sessions in the Republic of Tajikistan and the Kyrgyz Republic. The participant profile for the trainings encompassed a diverse group, including laboratory personnel, biomedical professionals, research scientists, masters and PhD students, IT specialists, and professors, ensuring a comprehensive cross-section of professionals engaged in or responsible for biosecurity, biosafety, and cybersecurity. The trainings featured sessions on foundations of biosafety and biosecurity in the laboratory and medical setting, how to identify and mitigate cyber risks, introduction to cyberbiosecurity, and proper waste management procedures. HSP extends its congratulations to the challenge grantees and their institutions for their efforts to improve biosafety, biosecurity, and cybersecurity in the Republic of Tajikistan and the Kyrgyz Republic.