Speech by President Halimah Yacob at the World One Health Congress 2022

Mr Cheng Wai Keung, Chairman, SingHealth

Professor Thomas Coffman, Dean, Duke-NUS Medical School

Professor Wang Linfa and Associate Professor Tan Hiang Khoon, Co-Chairs of the World One Health Congress 2022

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

Good morning. It gives me great pleasure to be with you at the 7th World One Health Congress. I am glad to see so many of you from the healthcare and scientific communities, from across the globe, gathered here today. I wish to also welcome participants attending the Congress virtually from various parts of the world.

It has been increasingly apparent over the past few years that humans, animals, and the environment are closely interconnected, and they constantly influence the health and well-being of one another. In the past three years, we witnessed how COVID-19, a new virus with likely origins from animals, evolved and became a deadly infectious disease that has impacted the world; and a known virus, monkeypox, that has animal origins but has spread widely among humans. With globalisation facilitating cross-border interactions and bringing populations and communities closer together, these diseases have spread more quickly than ever before.

The impact of this interconnectivity and its profound consequences is especially fresh on our minds when we think about the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the early days of the pandemic, many countries saw rapidly rising rates of infection and coronavirus-related deaths, and subsequently nationwide lockdowns and restrictions on cross-border travel for a prolonged period. There were multiple mutations of the virus and repeated waves of cases which showed that clearly, no country was safe until all countries were. Till today, many are still adapting to living with COVID-19 and reeling from the societal and economical disruptions it has caused.

Thankfully, the reverse is also true. Interconnectivity can work positively and powerfully for the global community. During the pandemic, we saw an unprecedented level of global effort to manage the situation. This included coordinated efforts to restore supply chains, repatriate citizens who were stuck overseas, or rapidly develop COVID-19 vaccinations and treatments. Healthcare systems exchanged new innovations and best practices, scientists shared research findings and genomic sequences of the virus strains, and governments supported vaccine multilateralism initiatives like COVAX to enable the vaccination of populations at a remarkable speed, to mitigate the risk of severe illness.

Other international efforts include the relentless work of the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as the significant contributions of organisations ranging from GISAID, a global science initiative that provides open access to genomic data of influenza viruses, to Gavi, a vaccine alliance that looks at vaccinating almost half the world’s children against deadly infectious diseases. Working with our scientists and partners in industry, these organisations galvanised the world to better understand the COVID-19 virus, drove and catalysed the development of vaccines, diagnostic tools and therapeutics, and made them as accessible as possible throughout the world.

Singapore played a part in many of these efforts. Our researchers and scientists worked with partners around the world to set up and maintain the genomic database for COVID-19 under GISAID, and developed novel test kits in the early days of the pandemic that were deployed to other regions around the globe. These efforts from our researchers, such as those from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Duke-NUS Medical School and the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID), have helped to inform and strengthen the global response towards the pandemic.

We have journeyed long and hard, learning many lessons from COVID-19 together. Perhaps the greatest lesson on our interconnectivity is that we must leverage it well and early, to the best of our advantage. In other words, we must work together not only when a crisis unfolds, but strive to be ahead of the curve through strong collaborations and preparations even during peace time. Let me touch on three key areas where such cooperation is crucial. First, in detecting emerging threats. Second, in addressing prevalent diseases. Finally, in facilitating knowledge-sharing to strengthen the robustness of health systems.

We must be prepared for the next “Disease X”, which could be more ravaging than COVID-19. Just last week, Singapore launched the National Programme for Research in Epidemic Preparedness and Response, or PREPARE. It is led by Professor Wang Linfa, one of the co-chairs of this Congress, supported by the Ministry of Health’s National Medical Research Council, and administered by NCID. It seeks to support and strengthen essential research capabilities, translational platforms, and expertise that could be harnessed to detect, respond to, and contain future infectious disease outbreak threats.

PREPARE is also developing regional collaborative networks to facilitate clinical research, trials and exchange programmes, so as to build strong and sustained relationships that are critical to mitigate and contain future disease threats. This complements existing efforts such as the partnership between Duke-NUS Medical School and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to develop the Asia Pathogen Genomics Initiative. The initiative supports countries across the region to scale up capacity in genomic surveillance as an early detection strategy for pandemics.

Beyond pandemic preparedness, we must collectively build a global common for better overall health. The World One Health Congress platform is extremely strategic in this regard. “One Health” refers to coalescing diverse disciplines such as epidemiology and disease surveillance, human health systems, animal science, food safety, environmental science and global health security, to improve health. This includes collectively addressing prevalent diseases that affect respective populations.

Research and scientific advancements play a key role in this. In Singapore, Precision Medicine is one of the focus areas under the Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2025 Plan. This initiative aims to accelerate precision medicine health research and develop peaks of research excellence. In doing so, we can transform healthcare and improve patient outcomes through new insights into the Asian genome and through data-driven healthcare solutions. Under this umbrella, the SG10K Health project is aimed at providing a better understanding of genetic disorders especially in Singapore and Asia. Completed in 2019, this research focused on sequencing the genomes of 10,000 healthy Singaporeans involving the three major ethnic groups. This highly anticipated study is slated to be published in the well-respected, highly regarded scientific journal Nature Communications by the end of this year.

As part of banding together for the greater good, the SingHealth Duke-NUS Translational Immunology Institute (TII) has also been supporting the international research community in understanding the mechanisms of the human immunity and how they respond to disease. The TII team developed “EPIC”, an interactive online atlas of genes and proteins that make up the immune system, which can be used by research teams to study how the human immunity works in relation to different diseases. The Artificial Intelligence-powered platform, first set up in mid-2020 based on the immunome datasets of less than 200 individuals, has now grown to house immunome datasets of more than 2,000 individuals. Research tools like EPIC offer new possibilities into the prediction of clinical responses for personalised medicine and the development of vaccines and therapies globally.

Beyond research, there have also been concerted knowledge-sharing efforts to contribute to global health. For example, today’s Congress is organised by the SingHealth Duke-NUS Global Health Institute, which was set up to advance global health activities and improve health outcomes in the region and globally. It does so by establishing and supporting research, capacity-building, engaging in education and policy-related activities, and strengthening health systems by contributing to the international agenda of developing new models of care for target populations in ASEAN countries. Singapore is committed to being part of the global health agenda. We must encourage more of such activities, and continue investing talent and resources in these efforts.

During this Congress, Temasek Foundation has initiated a three-day programme to strengthen regional and international networking for healthcare. The Temasek Foundation Pinnacle Series, which runs parallel to the main Congress, will focus on readiness to combat public health threats in Asia, particularly in Southeast Asia. It will bring together healthcare leaders and scientists involved in different disciplines including zoonotic diseases, bio-surveillance studies, and antimicrobial resistance among others, to build a regional network of experts and hold strategic discussions on combating future public health threats together.

Today’s Congress will enable the international community to delve deeper into the One Health discussion. There are policy makers, top scientists, research teams, academics and research programme managers in our midst, which makes this event an opportune platform for like-minded and strategic discussions.

In your time here, I encourage you to lean in and glean insights fully, to share your own expertise and ideas freely, and to be bold in building transdisciplinary networks. It is only by working collectively that we can secure the health of this generation and the next. I am confident this Congress will pave the way for many exciting collaborations which can lead to new solutions and better outcomes for health.

In closing, I would like to thank the World One Health platform for the work that you do in the betterment of healthcare for the world. Thank you to each and every one of you for contributing to the One Health agenda. Singapore is honoured to have you here for this event, and I wish you a fulfilling and productive week of learning and sharing.

Thank you.