A total of 22 experts from the food industry, governments bodies, regional and international organisations, the military and civil society organisations, participated in the Strategy Development Workshop on Pandemic Preparedness and Response for Food Supply Security, in Vientiane, Lao PDR (22 and 23 October 2012).
The workshop was co-organised by the ASEF Public Health Network and the Ministry of Health of Lao PDR, along with the technical support of the World Food Programme (WFP) and Nestlé. Participants used the ASEF-ASAP (Accurate Scenarios Active Preparedness) scenarios to frame expected challenges that can disrupt the functioning of the food sector in case of a possible pandemic.
The discussions and sharing of ideas during the sessions helped the participants to come up with several strategic options to mitigate such challenges and get better prepared for pandemics by stimulating closer and stronger multi-sectoral collaboration.
The outcomes of the workshop will be published in early 2013.