The ongoing COVID-19 situation has drawn attention to the urgent need of increasing biosafety awareness. With the recent release of the 4th edition of the WHO’s Laboratory Biosafety Manual (WHO LBM4), opportunities have arisen to operationalize the concept of risk-based biosafety. Application of risk-based biosafety is an effective approach to safely handle infectious hazards and allow laboratories to strengthen and widen their biosafety practices in a cost effective and sustainable manner.
Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, the time is right for the WHO’s South-East Asia Region (SEAR) to embark on the application of a risk-based bio safety concept. Efforts are needed for building capacity in risk-based biosafety practices by training managerial/senior technical level biosafety experts from Member States using a cascade approach. Such well-trained ToTs can further train laboratory professionals in their respective countries.
Considering the above need and the opportunities available, the Regional Office for the WHO’s South East Asia Region (SEARO) organized a regional Biosafety and Risk Assessment training of ToTs for Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives on a pilot basis. Each of these countries nominated participants to be trained as trainers. The training comprised 13 sessions each of which was for 90–120 minutes and was conducted between 26 October and 22 December 2021.
A total of 19 participants took part in this workshop which was facilitated by three experienced biosafety experts namely Prof. Stuart Blacksell, of the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU), Tom Hughes and Mei-Ho Lee of Conservation Medicine. MORU and Conservation Medicine as partners collaborated with WHO SEARO to develop the regional biosafety practical guide and risk assessment templates as part of implementation of WHO’s LBM4 in SEAR.
Components of the training of ToTs on risk-based biosafety
- Strengthening laboratory capacity on biosafety management skills
- Occupational health and safety with emphasis on biosafety
- Familiarization with the new WHO Laboratory biosafety manual 4th edition and WHO SEARO Laboratory Biosafety Quick Reference Manual
- Understanding influenza, COVID-19 and infectious substance sample packaging, transportation, and handling
- Awareness creation and skill building on systematic processes to carry out staff development activities and conducting trainings related to risk-based biosafety
Prior to the training, participants completed an online pre-training examination to gauge their level of biosafety understanding. The training was held remotely using an online training platform. After completing each training module, participants assessed their level of understanding of the training module of concern.
As an expected outcome of the training, the trainees gained confidence to impart knowledge and skills to trainees in cascade trainings in their respective countries. Based on the results of this pilot training, SEARO aims to finalize training materials and the video component for utilization in the next round of training sessions in SEARO. As the online mode of trainings presents challenges in the context of the ongoing pandemic, a hybrid model of training (online and onsite) is being considered as an effective method for rolling out the training in future as a way forward.