ARISE Plus developed and successfully delivered a pilot training course during 22-29 April 2021 to support ASEAN Health Officials in building capacity of Member States Officials on Food Borne Diseases Outbreak –dealing with all aspects including preventive measures, monitoring, outbreak management and reporting. The ASEAN Secretariat requested for repeating the program using same material as they note a further demand and value in training more ASEAN Experts.
The training course previously developed by ARISE Plus experts in close consultation with the ASEAN Secretariat officials, officials from Viet Nam as the lead proponent and the ASEAN Health Cluster 4 -Ensuring Food Safety, a grouping of health officials representing the 10 ASEAN Member States was reviewed and updated to address the feedback received during pilot delivery and current best global practices. The objective of the training course is to build knowledge on factors contributing to Food Borne Diseases, to understand the importance of preparedness and prevention, tools to equip the national competent authorities to apply the preventive controls for food borne disease, improved approach towards monitoring and surveillance and investigating an outbreak.
The training course was delivered from 04-11 April 2022 through video conferencing facility due to the travel restrictions in place. There was huge interest in the training from ASEAN Member States with participation of more than forty experts from nine member-states. The group exercises conducted during the training provided an opportunity for participants to learn from each other and were very much appreciated by participants The training material for the courses developed delivered on pilot basis will be compiled and provided to ASEAN Secretariat and to training institutions in ASEAN for future use after it is reviewed and improved based on the feedback from the pilot training.
This was the repeat program in the series of food safety training courses developed for ASEAN based on the success of first pilot delivery. There are other three training courses planned for delivery in this year which includes Food Safety Sampling, Risk Communication, Food toxicology selected from priorities identified by ASEAN Secretariat Health Cluster 4- Ensuring Food Safety.
The capacity and capability of the food safety authorities to conduct their activities in a competent, effective and responsible manner is a critical factor not only for the improving food safety in Member States and additionally is essential in building mutual confidence to support the on-going initiatives in harmonisation of food safety measures as part of the regional market integration in the food trade in ASEAN.
