SPEECH BY DR LAM PIN MIN, SENIOR MINISTER OF STATE, MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT, AT THE 10th OPTIONS FOR THE CONTROL OF INFLUENZA CONFERENCE, ON 28 AUGUST 2019

Associate Professor Lance Jennings, Chair of the International Society for Influenza and other Respiratory Viruses (ISIRV)

Associate Professor Vernon Lee, Chair of the Organising Committee, Options for the Control of Influenza

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

1. Welcome to the 10th edition of the Options for the Control of Influenza Conference. It is an honour for Singapore to host this conference that brings together leading influenza experts to discuss advances in influenza research and how research translates into clinical management, disease control policies, and pandemic preparedness.

2. With globalised trade and travel as well as rapid urbanisation, our world today is highly mobile, interconnected, and interdependent. This increased connectivity, unfortunately, brings about more opportunities for the rapid spread of infectious diseases such as influenza. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that seasonal influenza causes nearly 300,000 to 650,000 respiratory deaths every year, with countless more people being hospitalised. There have been times when novel influenza viruses have brought about influenza pandemics with catastrophic consequences – like the 1918 Spanish flu, the most severe influenza pandemic that the world has experienced, which claimed more than 50 million lives in a short span of just two years. Since then, we have weathered many more influenza pandemics in the late 1950s and 1960s, and more recently, the 2009 H1N1 pandemic.

3. While the world is better prepared today to deal with diseases, we remain mindful of the potential threat of another influenza pandemic. Influenza pandemics often strike unexpectedly, and with unanticipated levels of severity. It is therefore important that we continue to participate in global initiatives and dedicate resources to strengthen our efforts to prepare for such public health threats.

Global Initiatives

4. One such initiative is the WHO Pandemic Influenza Preparedness (PIP) framework, which brings together stakeholders such as the WHO, its Member States and industry partners, to implement a coordinated, global approach toward pandemic influenza preparedness and response. Its key aims are to improve the sharing of knowledge between stakeholders regarding influenza viruses with pandemic potential, and improve access to influenza vaccines and medicines to countries in need.

5. While collaboration is crucial in strengthening global health security, every country must play its part towards strengthening its own pandemic preparedness. Together, such efforts contribute towards building collective resilience against public health threats. The WHO’s International Health Regulations (IHR) seeks to ensure that countries have the core capabilities to detect, assess and respond promptly and effectively to public health threats and emergencies. Under the IHR monitoring framework, countries are also encouraged to regularly review and strengthen their capabilities such as through participating in a voluntary Joint External Evaluation (JEE) exercise. As part of Singapore’s commitment towards the IHR, we participated in the JEE in 2018 to objectively evaluate our country’s capability to manage public health threats as well as identify areas for improvement. It was an invaluable learning experience for Singapore and we were pleased to be awarded good scores in 18 of the 19 technical areas assessed. That said, we cannot be complacent and must continue to strengthen our capabilities to safeguard public health.

Resources to Prepare for and Manage Public Health Emergencies in Singapore

6. Being a global trade and travel hub, Singapore remains highly susceptible to the risk of importing emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. Over the last two decades, Singapore has faced the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003, the H1N1 Influenza pandemic in 2009, and more recently Zika in 2016. Earlier this year, Singapore encountered our first imported case of monkeypox and it was the prompt response by multiple stakeholders that mitigated any onward transmission to ensure that public health was not compromised. To strengthen Singapore’s capabilities in infectious disease management and prevention, we have established the National Centre for Infectious Diseases which started operations in 2018. This 330-bed facility was purpose-built to manage large infectious disease outbreaks and can expand to accommodate close to 500 patients. It also houses clinical, public health, and laboratory facilities as well as a state-of-the-art high-level isolation unit with negative pressure rooms to manage patients with high-consequence pathogens such as Ebola.

7. Our National Public Health Laboratory has supported the Ministry of Health’s investigation into many outbreaks by providing centralised testing of samples with high throughput. They contribute towards our national influenza surveillance programme with regular reporting on the distribution of circulating strains and genetic characterisation of influenza viruses. As Singapore’s designated National Influenza Centre, it also contributes to the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System and provides viral isolates to the WHO Collaborating Centres.

Influenza Research

8. It is also necessary to develop our research capabilities to develop new solutions to deal with future threats. Research institutions in Singapore such as the Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR), the National University of Singapore, Duke-NUS Medical School and NTU-Imperial College Medical School have contributed to creating a thriving research community and their research findings help to pave the way towards understanding the dynamics of influenza immunology, transmission, and control measures. To protect vulnerable populations against complications of influenza, we also need to study ways to improve vaccine efficacy and to increase vaccine uptake rates.

9. With a diverse range of topics on influenza research and policy, we are honoured that ISIRV has given Singapore the opportunity to host the 10th edition of Options, and hope that the conference will facilitate further scientific collaborations.

Closing

10. I understand that the preparatory work for the conference started since 2016 and would like to take this opportunity to thank the organisers for putting together a comprehensive programme. The conference is an excellent platform for us to exchange the latest research findings on influenza and gain insight on areas where more resources are needed. I hope we can work together towards reducing the seasonal burden of influenza, and be better prepared for when the next pandemic strikes. I also hope that this conference will be a great opportunity to strengthen existing ties and foster new friendships.

11. On this note, I wish everyone a fruitful time at the conference. Thank you.