ABSTRACT

Biological threats, whether intentional, unintentional or natural are considered to be the most dangerous hazards, seriously affecting the health system and global economy. In this 21^st century, COVID-19 outbreak in 212 countries have shown ill preparedness of global health systems to combat the virus. Economic, health and political foundations were jolted and exposed the health security system. This was mainly due to poor implementations of the policy guidelines. Pakistan being an endemic region for emerging and reemerging infectious diseases, fared badly in the numerous different outbreaks in past. Pakistan shares borders with China, India, Iran and Afghanistan and the large influx of travelers through both air and land route puts Pakistan at high risk to the infectious agents.
The game of bio warfare cannot be eliminated and poses significant challenges to security. Countries that learnt from the past like Korea and China had best preparedness, readiness and response capability. They tackled the situation with their up to date biosecurity and bio risk management systems. Biosecurity as a defense against outbreaks, pandemics, biological warfare and bioterrorism has been underestimated in developing countries and therefore there is a need to highlight the urgency at national level to cope with any future outbreaks. Risk assessment, and mitigation strategies through collaborative work need to be adopted by stakeholders for strategic planning of biosecurity. Better means to protect health care workers operating in a difficult environment are also needed. A national biosecurity system in response to outbreaks, prioritizing the emergency R&D in diagnostics, establishing high containment facilities, vaccination should be initiated. Moreover, a permanent national defense force or bio-umbrella on biosecurity should be established to shield the country from biological, chemical, nuclear and radiological threat agents. National Biological Defense Program (NBDP) should be initiated to train and protect military personnel against a wide range of biological threats.

Key Words: Biosecurity, Biorisk, Bioterrorism, Biopreparedness, Pandemics Bio Shield.

How to cite this: Sajjad W.  Bioshield: Linking Bioscience, Biosecurity and Strategic Plan for Biodefense in Pandemics. Life and Science. 2020; 1(suppl): 87-93.  doi: http://doi.org/10.37185/LnS.1.1.163