AKIPRESS.COM - The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) signs Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Ministry of Health (MOH) of Mongolia on February 15, pledging to promote comprehensive cooperation for preparedness and response to infectious disease threats, the KDCA press service says.

The KDCA has expanded technical collaboration with Mongolia in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 2023, its technical assistance has been provided to strengthen the bilateral collaboration in specific areas including laboratory diagnostics and analysis, infectious disease surveillance, and joint training programs in emerging infectious diseases. A total of 7.2 billion won is earmarked for the ODA program for Mongolia from 2023 to 2027.

The MOU is aimed to expand and strengthen technical collaboration by establishing comprehensive inter-institutional cooperation and partnership in the field of public health.

The document covers cooperation in disease surveillance, public health emergencies, laboratory capacity-building and enhancement, development of a national plan on public health, pandemic preparedness and others.

The KDCA will take the MOU as an opportunity to facilitate the planned cooperation projects with Mongolia in infectious disease emergency preparedness and response. Consequently, it is expected to build a global network which spans various partner countries, thereby enabling swift collection of information and collective actions effectively taken to prepare for the future pandemics.

"The MOH plans to establish the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in recognition of the critical need of integrating infectious disease control systems during the COVID-19 pandemic," Minister of Health of Mongolia Cinzorig Sodnom said.