SINGAPORE, Feb 12 — Singapore’s Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan yesterday highlighted the world’s vulnerability to the next pandemic without strong multilateralism in health care, five years after Covid-19.
In a keynote address at the second APIC-ADVA Asia Pacific Summit on Infectious Diseases and Immunisation here, Dr Balakrishnan cited threats like climate change, medical misinformation, and the recent pull-out from the World Health Organization (WHO) of at least two countries that potentially affects funding for global health security.
Last month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to withdraw the United States from the WHO, citing the United Nations body’s “mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China, and other global health crises.”
“Negotiations on the Pandemic Treaty remain deadlocked, and there is clearly a lack of trust and political will. I do not think any breakthrough is imminent,” Dr Balakrishnan told the conference.
“All these should be a cause of concern for all of us. Without strong and effective multilateralism in health care, we are going to have a world that is vulnerable and ill-equipped to tackle the next global health crisis. And the next health care crisis is inevitable.
“What is most painful is not just an emerging pandemic, but the unnecessary loss of lives because we did not do what needed to be done both in terms of prevention and action when the crisis actually emerges.”
Dr Balakrishnan suggested three measures for Singapore, Southeast Asia, and the world in preparation for the next pandemic or global health crisis: multilateralism and vaccine equity; data sharing; and domestic resilience.
On multilateralism and vaccine equity, the foreign minister noted that as a small country, all vectors will eventually transit through Singapore, and quite rapidly, as seen during the SARS epidemic and Covid-19 pandemic.
“Perhaps because of our own vulnerability, Singapore clearly understands the importance of multilateral cooperation. These are not just a form of words for us, but blindingly obvious,” said Dr Balakrishnan.
“That is why Singapore always extends our staunch support for the WHO. Singapore was one of the first countries globally and the first in Asia to contribute to the WHO’s inaugural investment round for 2025 to 2028. We contributed S$24 million (RM79 million) in the first instance. This will go towards building domestic capacities to prepare for, prevent and respond to health crises and emergencies, especially in developing countries.”
Singapore’s foreign affairs minister acknowledged that the world fell short in achieving vaccine equity during the Covid-19 pandemic in the last five years and even during earlier outbreaks like the Ebola epidemic in West Africa from 2014 to 2016 and the 2009 H1N1 pandemic.
“The irony is viruses are not bound by ideology, political borders or attitudes,” said Dr Balakrishnan, who described Singapore as an “early champion” for vaccine equity.
He cited Singapore’s experience in working together with Switzerland to found and co-chair the Friends of the Covax Facility (FOF) Group, a global initiative co-led by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the WHO, among others, to promote equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines.
“This is not a political posture; this is simply responding to the brutal reality that a threat anywhere to a human being, anywhere on this globe, is a threat to all of us. Those of us who can do more, should do more.”
Dr Balakrishnan touted Singapore’s role in helping to set up the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID) — the world’s largest database of SARS-CoV-2 viral sequences that was created by researchers from more than 170 countries.
“Thanks to the hard work and the academic generosity of these researchers, the genetic sequence of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 was quickly uploaded when it was detected in South Africa, allowing it to be identified in other regions, including Botswana and Hong Kong, in the very early phase of its emergence. At a time of confusion and panic, GISAID allowed for greater clarity and coordination,” he said.
“That is why Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) played a major role in setting up and maintaining GISAID, by performing high quality checks on genome sequences submitted and classifying them.
“As a science and technology hub, I can give you the assurance Singapore will continue to support GISAID and efforts like this.”
Dr Balakrishnan’s third point was about how domestic health care systems and infrastructure form the “bedrock” of a response to a health crisis.
“In Singapore, we have always emphasised the need for training and retaining health care professionals in our national systems. Intakes to our local medical schools have increased by about 30 per cent in the past ten years. We offer awards and grants to attract Singaporeans who graduated from overseas medical schools to come back home and contribute to our local public health care system,” said the foreign minister.
He touted Singapore’s ANGEL scheme, launched last September, that aims to retain nurses in the public health care system by offering about 29,000 nurses up to S$100,000 (RM329,514) each in payouts over a 20-year period.
Singapore’s Health Minister Ong Ye Kung also recently announced salary increases by the middle of the year for allied health professionals (such as physiotherapists, occupational therapists, and dietitians); pharmacists; and administrative, ancillary and support staff.
“All in all, there are 37,000 of them. A very diverse group, but they are a very important part of our system,” Ong said last January 29.
Dr Balakrishnan said Singapore strengthened its disease surveillance systems and established the Communicable Diseases Agency this year to consolidate public health functions, such as genomic and waste-water testing, as well as the emerging use of predictive AI to ensure that any emerging waves of infections are detected early.
“Our robust surveillance systems can and must act as an early warning system of new outbreaks and, if we can do so, must be replicated in our region and beyond it. These systems strengthen the preparedness and ability to respond for our region and for the world.”
Singapore’s foreign minister stressed that the next global health crisis was not a matter of “if”, but “when.”
“We must be prepared to respond swiftly and effectively, in a collaborative and scientific way, based on data and science, at a global level. For that to happen, we need conferences like this, we need the spirit encapsulated by this room, and we need this to be disseminated outside.
“We need our own ‘pandemic’ of science and cooperation.”
The three-day APIC-ADVA Summit by the Asia Pacific Immunisation Coalition (APIC) and the Asia Dengue Voice & Action (ADVA) was convened from yesterday until tomorrow.
Themed “Infectious Diseases and Immunisation in the Era of Polycrises”, the summit looks to address multifaceted challenges—pandemics, climate change, geopolitical tensions, and misinformation.
Malaysia’s former Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah participated in a roundtable discussion at the conference yesterday with other Health DGs.
A panel discussion on vaccine security in the Asean region was held earlier this morning, but no Malaysian representative was present at the session that included representatives from Thailand and Indonesia instead. Malaysia is the chair of Asean this year.
