NAIROBI, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Kenya on Monday launched a laboratory that aims to enhance the country's bio-safety and bio-security.
Peter Tum, Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Health told journalists in Nairobi that the 2 million U.S. dollar facility is a step in the right direction in controlling spread of animal and human diseases.
"The laboratory will help Kenya to counter the increased threats to human and animal health that are triggered by multiple, interrelated global factors which are driven by human behavior," Tum said.
He said that it is the unpredictable nature of viral pathogens that need to be controlled. He noted that the laboratory will also help in the surveillance of pathogens in animal and human health in order to detect disease outbreaks in their earlier stages.
Tum said that Kenya, like many countries, is concerned about the natural occurrence or deliberate misuse of pathogenic biological agents that could affect public health, food and animal production.
He noted that a number of significant epidemics have been recorded in human history but the frequency and impact of emerging and re-emerging animals diseases have increased over the past decades.
"Such epidemics of infectious diseases are known to spread fast through human populations across large regions such as a continent or even worldwide," he noted.
Tum observed that some of the diseases, as we have witnessed in this continent, include Ebola, SARS and influenza, and have caused negative impacts economically, socially and in terms of health, with disastrous consequences in the population.
The ministry of health said that disease prevention is also key prerequisite to the achievement of universal health coverage by 2022.
Tum noted that the increase in livestock production and the concentration of intensive production systems that are located very near urban population centers contributes to the emergence of diseases and their transmission, both among animals and to humans.
Kimutai said that an increase in husbandry practices with inadequate bio-security also leads to emergence of diseases.
He noted that that veterinary laboratories play important roles in animal and public health.
