WHO names Thailand world’s first BIOHUB

The World Health Organization (WHO) has designated Thailand as the world’s first BIOHUB country, following high praise by the end of June from the organization’s Director-General for the Kingdom’s pandemic response.

As the first country to be declared a BIOHUB, Thailand will enter into a formal collaboration with the WHO. The Kingdom will work with the WHO to collect and study pathogens and conduct research and development of new drugs and vaccines.

WHO Director-General Dr. Tedrom Ghebreyesus offered his praise for Thailand at the 75th congress of the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland. He met on the sidelines with the Thai delegation led by Minister of Public Health Anutin Chanvirakul.

Dr. Tedros said that Thailand was committed to vaccine equality. He welcomed the Kingdom’s cooperation in sharing knowledge and research, and was impressed with its universal health insurance program.

The WHO and the United Nations have consistently called Thailand’s public health system a positive model for what middle-income and developing nations can achieve.

The commendation from the Director-General on the Kingdom’s pandemic response marked an impressive turnaround for Thailand and Anutin. Both had won plaudits during the early stages of the pandemic for keeping the number of COVID-19 infections low.

Because of the strict measures the government and health authorities put in place to contain the spread of the virus, and with strong cooperation from the public, the Kingdom turned the tide on COVID-19. New infections have been consistently dropping and the number of cases is considered low. The country has reopened to foreign visitors and the economy is picking up steam.

Photo courtesy of https://www.who.int/thailand/news/