S. Korea becomes new global biomanufacturing training hub for WHO

WHO, 한국 ‘바이오 인력양성 허브’ 지정…저소득국 백신생산 지원

South Korea will be home to a new global bio-manufacturing training hub.
Starting July hundreds of professionals from developing countries will be trained so the participants can learn to manufacture their own vaccines and biological products.
Min Suk-hyen provides a glimpse of what to expect.
South Korea will become a global biomanufacturing training hub for the World Health Organization.
Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was pleased to announce South Korea, and hoped this will help more countries improve their biomanufacturing capabilities.
The new training hub will help low- and middle-income countries produce not just vaccines, but other biological products.
This comes after the successful establishment of a global mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub in South Africa last year.

" The government of the Republic of Korea has offered a huge facility that conducts bio-manufacturing training locally and will expand its operations to accommodate trainees from other countries."

The training facilities will be located in two areas outside South Korea's capital one in Songdo, Incheon and the other in Osong, Chungcheongbuk-do Province where they're already providing biomanufacturing training for local companies.
Starting in July, South Korea will train 370 professionals from around the world.
Of them, 100 trainees will go on a two-week course for vaccine and biologics development and production, while 210 others will go on a three-week course... quality management standards in pharmaceuticals.
And the remaining 60 trainees will gain hands-on experience in pharmaceutical product manufacturing.

By the year 2025, the government plans to invite 2-thousand trainees from developing countries every year... with an ambitious goal of setting up two more training facilities by next year.
Seoul's health ministry said it hopes this would be an opportunity for South Korea to become a leading nation in the bio-industry field.

"Being the only country that's gone from being an aid recipient to a donor, South Korea's nomination as a global training hub... by the WHO... will serve as an opportunity for the country to share its experience in the bio field. And by actively addressing global inequalities in access to vaccines and strengthening health and safety networks around the world, it will serve as an opportunity for South Korea to demonstrate its global leadership credentials."

The ministry also added that it will establish a joint-steering committee and hold regular meetings with the WHO to further develop the curriculum and to select trainees for the program.
Min Suk-hyen, Arirang News.

#COVID19 #WHO #biomanufacturing

2022-02-25, 22:00 (KST)