ASEAN BioDiaspora Project

Strengthening of ASEAN Preparedness and Response to Biological Threats.

In the past 20 years, the world has been scourged by emerging and reemerging infectious diseases, diseases that are public health emergencies of international concern. The Philippines has had its share of outbreaks, including SARS (2003), Ebola Reston in nonhuman primates and pigs (2008), pandemic influenza A(H1N1) in 2009, MERS (2014), Zika (2016) and vaccine preventable diseases such as measles, dengue and poliomyelitis. The key to mitigation of the devastating effects is a preparedness plan with an evidence- based program to predict possible outbreaks.

In 2014, to enhance ASEAN risk assessment capability to track and detect emerging infectious diseases and other relevant potential threats through the use of Biodiaspora, a project was launched with the Philippines as the lead country. The ASEAN Biodiaspora Program is a real-time web-based risk assessment tool, linking multiple datasets. The objective is to build regional capacity in data analytics, visualization and communication that strengthen ASEAN’s epidemic and pandemic preparedness and response capabilities to naturally occurring or man- made biological threats.

In 2 years, the ASEAN Biodiaspora project aims to reach this goal through four main strategies:

1. Establish Regional Virtual Center for Biodiaspora
2. Strengthen the network of existing national and regional (ASEAN) capacity for big data analytics and visualization
3. Continuous development and maintenance of the system
4. Establish a policy framework for project sustainability