The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, today announced a $24 million commitment to assist Australia's Asian neighbours combat infectious diseases in people and animals across our region with new laboratories, plans to prepare for pandemics and better veterinary services.
Australia will work with the World Health Organization and the World Organisation for Animal Health to combat emerging infectious diseases and pandemics, helping our neighbours in the Asia-Pacific region to better protect themselves and stop the spread of disease throughout the region.
Ms Gillard, speaking at the East Asia Summit in Bali, Indonesia, said while there have been significant improvements in our ability to detect and respond to emerging infectious diseases, more needs to be done.
The $24 million, four-year commitment includes:
* $12 million to the World Health Organization to assist countries in the Asia Pacific to build better laboratories, develop national pandemic preparedness plans and implement innovative surveillance systems
* $12.7 million to the World Organisation for Animal Healthto strengthen veterinary services and to better manage animal-borne diseases in our region.
These initiatives are helping to deliver on Australia's announcement at last year's summit to commit $32 million between 2010 and 2014 to combat emerging infectious diseases and pandemics in our region.
Australia plays a leading role in addressing emerging disease threats in our region. We have provided more than $200 million since 2003 to strengthen prevention, detection and response capabilities to threats such as H5N1 avian influenza and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
Australia has assisted partners to develop national pandemic preparedness plan and strengthen detection, prevention and control systems, resulting in a significant improvement to countries' ability to respond to pandemics across the region.