At the third Business Continuity Plan (BCP) workshop on the 1st February 2011, representatives from 10 Government Ministries gathered to develop their strategies on how to continue functioning in the case of a pandemic outbreak.

BCPs determine the critical activities of an organization, the core personnel required to maintain them, and strategies to mitigate the effects of disruption during a disaster.  Their importance is clear to see with the recent emerging infectious disease outbreaks, such as SARS, Avian Influenza and H1N1 all impacting on the Southeast Asia region.

For healthcare systems to respond effectively to pandemics they depend on the functioning of other sectors, such as energy, water, telecommunications, transport and finance. The third workshop, facilitated by the National Emerging Infectious Disease Coordination Office (NEIDCO), with support from the UN, focused on creating operational BCPs for the Ministry of Energy and Mines (Electricity Du Laos), the National Authority for Posts and Telecommunications (NAPT), and Nampapa Lao (the Vientiane Water Authority). In addition 7 other Ministries received support to finalize their critical activities and personnel.

The drafting of the BCPs started in early 2010 and is scheduled to be completed by mid-2011. The UN is also supporting NEIDCO to better integrate the BCPs into the National Avian Influenza Control and Pandemic Preparedness Strategy.

Although they address an influenza pandemic, the process that Ministries and sectors go through to develop the BCPs will be valuable for responding to any kind of emergency that affects an organization’s human resources, such as natural disasters, climate change events and security threats.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Department of Livestock and Fisheries (DLF) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) have at the end of September 2010 agreed on the continued support to strengthen the emergency preparedness for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in Lao PDR. The main objective of the FAO support in 2010-2011 will be to reduce the risk of an HPAI outbreak in the country, thus avoiding the possibility of a pandemic and reducing the risk of contamination to humans. The project continues improving the capacity of the Lao PDR to prevent, prepare for and effectively respond to the outbreaks of HPAI in animal population and to limit its impacts on livelihoods. The project also aims to contribute to longer term human resource development, improved data collection, analysis and mapping, and to minimize the risk of HPAI introduction to Lao PDR via cross border trade of poultry and products.

AI FINAL FAO PRESS RELEASE.pdf (114.64 kb)

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has last week granted the Faculty of Agriculture of the National University of Laos (NUOL) 26,000 dollars (US) as part of an ongoing FAO project to strengthen the regional capacity to control and prevent so called Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). The Faculty will undertake a study to improve the understanding of the cross-border risks related to Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza. The cross-border aspect of the spread of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza remains one of the big challenges in the fight against HPAI. Many studies have revealed that trans-boundary trade has a significant role of in the national supply of poultry and poultry products. Read nore