Strengthening biosecurity worldwide

Context

Highly infectious diseases can endanger the health, security and stability of entire nations and societies. Naturally occurring disease outbreaks like the COVID-19 pandemic, the unintended introduction of deadly pathogens, or terrorist attacks using these biological agents can have far-reaching consequences.

To counteract biological risks of this kind, in 2013 the German Federal Foreign Office (FFO) launched the German Biosecurity Programme. The programme is part of the German Government’s preventive security policy. It also contributes to the objectives of the G7 Global Partnership against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction and to the implementation of the Biological Weapons Convention.

Objective

The partner countries of the German Biosecurity Programme have improved biosecurity expertise.

Approach

The German Biosecurity Programme is jointly implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ), the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the Bernhard Nocht Institute für Tropical Medicine (BNITM), the German Federal Research Institute for Animal Health (Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, FLI) and the Bundeswehr Institute of Microbiology (IMB).

The programme implements projects in 15 partner countries of the German Biosecurity Programme as well as in two supraregional projects, each of which contributes to achieving one or more of six overarching goals:

• The capacity of the partner countries to prevent and respond to biological risks is improved.
• Highly pathogenic agents are reliably detected and diagnosed.
• Networks within and between partner countries coordinate their work on biological risks more effectively.
• International standards for handling biological pathogens are routinely applied to protect against unintentional damage (biosafety) as well as misuse (biosecurity).
• There is greater awareness of the principles, practices and instruments involved in non-proliferation and prevention in relation to biosecurity.
• Germany and its partner countries exchange scientific information and experience relating to biosecurity on an ongoing basis.

Last update: März 2023