THE Embassy of Japan in the Philippines’s Second Secretary Takeo Okada and Department of Health (DOH) Director Mar Wynn C. Bello recently attended the turnover ceremony of the Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) Laboratory 1 under Japan’s grant aid at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Alabang, Muntinlupa City.
The embassy said the project “could dramatically improve the functions of the RITM” by enabling the conduct of research on higher-risk bacteria and viruses.
A biosafety level (BSL) is a set of biocontainment precautions required to isolate dangerous biological agents in an enclosed laboratory facility. The levels of containment range from the lowest biosafety level (BSL-1) to the highest (BSL-4).
Through this project, it is expected that the scientific institute will further contribute to the prevention and control of emerging and reemerging infectious and tropical diseases in the Asia-Pacific region.
The RITM was constructed through a grant aid from the Japanese government in 1981. It has played a central role in the field of research and human resources development in preventing the spread of infectious diseases in the Philippines for more than 30 years.
Meanwhile, Okada also led a similar ceremony for the construction of a health facility in Pateros, with Health Undersecretary Gerardo V. Bayugo, DOH-National Capital Region Assistant Director Maria Paz P. Corrales, local government officials and beneficiaries of the project.
This project aims to provide improved basic medical services to the people of Pateros, particularly to the 14,800 residents of Barangay Aguho and its nearby areas. It was approved in 2014 and is part of Japan’s official development assistance (ODA) through the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (GGP).
In 2015 the embassy provided a financial assistance of $96,775, or approximately P4 million, to the local government unit of Pateros for the construction of the said health facility and the procurement of new medical equipment.
The government of Japan, as the top ODA donor for the Philippines, launched the GGP in the country in 1989 to reduce poverty and help various communities engaged in grassroots activities. Presently, it has implemented 534 grassroots projects.
Japan believes that these undertakings will not only strengthen the friendship of its peoples and the Filipinos, but also contribute in sustaining strategic partnerships between the two countries. With a report from Recto L. Mercene