Held in partnership with the Ministry of Health of Republic of Indonesia, the Workshop is designed to become the experience and knowledge sharing platform and help the OIC members witness the entire spectrum of vaccine production - right from the research, marketing, up to the distribution of vaccines.
The Workshop is a part of Bio Farma's road map implementation after Indonesia being named as The Center of Excellence in terms of bio-technology and vaccine products on December 2017.
In her remarks, Minister of Health, Nilla F. Moeloek, noted that the global health issues keep getting challenging as ever. The ever-increasing pathogen risk, animal-to-human diseases, and antimicrobial resistance are just a few of so many health issues that the world currently has to face.
"The access to high-quality vaccines and drugs as well as the other bio-technology products plays a pivotal role in coping with such issues.
However, not all of the OIC member states have such a privilege," said Moeloek. She continued, Indonesia is eager to reassert its position as the Center of Excellence of bio-technology and vaccine products for OIC.
"Indonesia will keep providing necessary supports for all of the OIC members to fight all of the ever-increasing health issues," she stated.
On the same occasion, OIC Assistant Secretary General for Science and Technology, Askar Musinov, conveyed that Bio Farma has contributed significantly in helping all of the OIC members address many kinds of health issues.
"I hope that all of the incoming participants can leverage what Bio Farma is capable of and, eventually, we can see the vaccine and drug independence in all of the OIC members," said Askar.
During the Workshop, 22 incoming member states visited a number of the state-owned company's facilities, such as the research and development, packaging, and distribution facilities.
Vice Chairman of OIC Vaccine Manufacturers Group M. Rahman Roestan added that the Workshop is a manifest of global trust to the Indonesian pharmaceutical industry.
"It's such an honor to have such a global recognition. We are committed to providing continued training and knowledge transfer efforts to help all of the OIC members be pharmaceutically resilient," asserted Rahman.
Furthermore, Rahman continued, through the Workshop, together with all the OIC members, Bio Farma can develop the new potential vaccines to address the currently unmet health issues, such as HIV, dengue fever, and Ebola.
"It usually takes 10-20 years to develop a new vaccine. Through this collaboration, we really hope that we can abridge the process," Rahman expounded.
As a state-owned company, Bio Farma is responsible to ensure the vaccine resilience and availability, not only in Indonesia, but also throughout the Islamic countries worldwide.