Through the Pacific Networked Diagnostics and Support project (PaNDAS), CSIRO’s Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness (ACDP) is working with laboratories and field partners in Pacific Island countries and territories to strengthen Pacific capabilities to detect and diagnose animal and zoonotic diseases in the region.

PaNDAS’ activities include hands‑on training and mentoring and laboratory placements at ACDP to develop the skills of laboratory staff in field diagnostics, molecular testing and serology.

CSIRO's Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness (ACDP) is supporting Southeast Asian and Pacific laboratories to adopt modern animal health diagnostic and surveillance tools through the APPLLe project.

CSIRO’s Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness (ACDP) is working with laboratories and field partners in Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos and the Philippines to strengthen capabilities to detect and diagnose emerging infectious diseases at the wildlife-livestock interface.

Activities include building staff skills in field and laboratory viromics-based surveillance and diagnostics; strengthening regional laboratory networks; and improving data and information sharing.

CSIRO’s Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness (ACDP) is providing targeted biorisk management training to laboratory leaders across Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

Through its R-BMT project, ACDP offers two training courses – a two-month ‘Introduction to Biorisk Management’ short course and a year-long ‘Biorisk Management Leadership’ course. Both are a mix of online and face-to-face training, with the in-person component taking place at ACDP’s state-of-the-art laboratory facilities in Geelong, Australia.

Australia is supporting the second phase of the Sydney Asia-Pacific Partnership for Health Innovations and Resilient Ecosystems (SAPPHIRE) to expand beyond Fiji, Kiribati and Vietnam and into Cambodia. In partnership with the University of Sydney, SAPPHIRE emphasises community participation, infectious and chronic disease control, health system strengthening, One Health adoption, climate change adaptation, and GEDSI integration for regional health security.

Through a collaboration with Indonesia’s Ministry of Agriculture, CSIRO’s Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness (ACDP) is supporting Indonesia’s Disease Investigation Centre Wates (DIC Wates) to strengthen its national role in identifying and characterising avian influenza outbreaks across Indonesia. This is supporting the centre to track avian influenza virus evolution and monitor the effectiveness of nationally licensed poultry vaccines as well as progress towards becoming a WOAH reference laboratory for avian influenza.

In partnership with three Thai state-owned organisations, CSIRO’s Biotherapeutics team is improving Thailand’s capacity to manufacture essential drugs and improve local and equitable access to medicines. Project activities include trainings at CSIRO’s state-of-the-art facilities in Victoria, Australia where project partners are supported to perform end-to-end process development work on drugs selected by the Thai partners based on national priorities.

CSIRO’s Biotherapeutics team has partnered with the Malaysia Genome and Vaccine Institute (MGVI-NIBM) to build MGVI’s capability to manufacture vaccines, including a Leptospirosis vaccine.

CSIRO support is provided through in-person train‑the‑trainer programs – covering technology readiness and manufacturability assessment – and quality assessments and backstopping observation of MGVI staff.

Australia is supporting partner countries to build capacity for health systems to anticipate, prevent, detect and control priority disease threats through the Regional Engagement in Surveillance and response to Priority diseases, providing Opportunities for National health system strengthening and Development (RESPOND) partnership with Menzies School of Health Research. 

Australia is strengthening its commitment to the prevention, surveillance and response to infectious diseases across the Indo-Pacific through a strategic partnership with the Doherty Institute. Over the next four years, our partnership will focus on workforce development, policy support, and systems strengthening, and will specifically target laboratory strengthening, genomic surveillance, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and data for decision making.