The US Department of Defense’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) held a five-day workshop from June 16-20 in Kuwait to oversee biological safety, security and surveillance training to Kuwaiti healthcare professionals.
The One Health training under the Biological Threat Reduction Programme (BTRP) was given to officials of the Public Authority for Agriculture and Fish Resources (PAAFR), the Ministry of Health and Kuwait Environmental Public Authority.
Speaking to The Times Kuwait, Maxwell Scurlock, the Project Manager of the programme said their goal was to work with the international community particularly their partners and allies to prepare them to prevent outbreak of diseases.
He said their visit to Kuwait was part of their tour to the Gulf countries to establish a biological reduction forum, which was a collaborative inter-agency effort that included the US Centre for Disease Control (CDC), to establish best practices for pandemic prevention, information sharing and increasing multi-sectoral cooperation for pandemic prevention. Scurlock noted that there was an MoU signed specifically for the collaboration.
Karen McCrea, the economic officer at the US embassy, pointed out that the workshop training was an important element in identifying and preparing the agencies where the next threat would come from. These workshops would help mitigate them and that’s the goal of keeping everybody healthy.
Scurlock also pointed out that a vast majority of human infections or communicable diseases came from animals or environmental sources so that why taking a one health approach was important to dealing with the threat.
Zoonotic diseases posed a considerable threat and there was a need for inter-agency and government coordination in dealing with it. Scurlock also praised Kuwait preparedness and and strong commitment as well as the systems in place to respond to future threats.
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