9th Review Conference: Strengthening of Biological Weapons Convention

Pandemics have always appeared in numerous manifestations throughout the history. The devastating COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020 but, the world is still in its clutches. Above two and half million lives have already been lost worldwide. The magnitude of Coronavirus has already produced the effects that fundamentally change the actions of the states on infectious diseases globally. It has also highlighted the power of disease that can be too fatal and widespread to bring life to an abrupt and total standstill. Further, this has exposed the serious weakness of the states in their national preparedness to respond to this global pandemic. It is timely and necessary to address this type of pandemics. The states have already been working hard to control and ease the potential effects of infectious diseases. As part of that work, it should be possible now that the 45 years old Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention stands on a new starting line. It is to be hoped that the international community will bring protracted discussions on the serious working of the Convention to a successful conclusion. This paper will help in identifying the possible options that the State Parties should discuss to strengthen the Convention, enhancement in its potency and implementation at the upcoming 9th Review Conference of BWTC, which is scheduled to be held in November 2021.

Simulation Exercises To Strengthen Polio Outbreak Preparedness in The Horn of Africa: Experiences and Lessons Learnt

Background: Poliovirus importations and related outbreaks occurred in the Horn of Africa (HoA) following an initial outbreak, which started in Somalia, spread into Kenya within ten days and later into Ethiopia and gradually to other countries in the region. National preparedness plans for responding to poliovirus introduction were insufficient in many countries of the Region. We describe a series of polio outbreak simulation exercises that were implemented to formally test polio outbreak preparedness plans in the HoA countries, as a step to interrupting further transmission. Methods: The Polio Outbreak Simulation Exercises (POSEs) were designed and implemented. The results were evaluated and recommendations made. The roles of outbreak simulation exercises in maintaining regional polio-free status were assessed. In addition, we performed a comprehensive review of the national plans of all for seven countries in the HoA Region. Results: Seven simulation exercises, delivered between 2016 and 2017 revealed that participating countries were generally prepared for poliovirus introduction, but the level of preparedness needed improvement. The areas in particular need of strengthening were national preparedness plans, initial response, plans for securing vaccine supply, and communications. Conclusions: Polio outbreak simulation exercises can be valuable tools to help maintain polio-free status and should be extended to other high-risk countries and subnational areas in the HoA Region and elsewhere. There is also need to standardize the process and methods for conducting POSE for comparability.

Editorial: Seeking the Benefits of Broadband

This editorial comes in three parts: some observations on national preparedness to capture the benefits of widespread broadband availability; some updates on the editorial team that produces the Journal of Telecommunications and the Digital Economy; and a brief introduction to the papers in this issue.

Epidemiological Analysis of the 2019 Dengue Epidemic in Bhutan

Bhutan experienced its largest and first nation-wide dengue epidemic in 2019. The cases in 2019 were greater than the total number of cases in all the previous years. This study aimed to characterize the spatiotemporal patterns and effective reproduction number of this explosive epidemic. Weekly notified dengue cases were extracted from the National Early Warning, Alert, Response and Surveillance (NEWARS) database to describe the spatial and temporal patterns of the epidemic. The time-varying, temperature-adjusted cohort effective reproduction number was estimated over the course of the epidemic. The dengue epidemic occurred between 29 April and 8 December 2019 over 32 weeks, and included 5935 cases. During the epidemic, dengue expanded from six to 44 subdistricts. The effective reproduction number was <3 for most of the epidemic period, except for a ≈1 month period of explosive growth, coinciding with the monsoon season and school vacations, when the effective reproduction number peaked >30 and after which the effective reproduction number declined steadily. Interventions were only initiated 6 weeks after the end of the period of explosive growth. This finding highlights the need to reinforce the national preparedness plan for outbreak response, and to enable the early detection of cases and timely response.

Students and terrorism: Study of Student Understanding Law No 5 of 2018 on Combatation of Criminal Acts of Terrorism in IAIN Surakarta

This article aims to know in real student's understanding of Law No. 5 of year 2018 on combating criminal acts of terrorism. The data collection techniques used in this study use interviews, observations and documentation. Meanwhile the analysis used in this research is a qualitative descriptive. Simultaneous, planned and integrated aspects of prevention need to forward to minimize the occurrence of criminal acts of terrorism. The optimal prevention is done by involving ministries or related institutions as well as all components of the nation through the efforts of national preparedness, counter radicalisation, and deradicalisation coordinated by the National Management Agency Terrorism. To optimize the eradication of criminal acts of terrorism, it is necessary to strengthen institutional functions, especially the coordination functions held with the National Agency for Terrorism counter following its oversight mechanisms. While it relates to the eradication of criminal acts of terrorism in Indonesia is not merely a matter of law and law enforcement but it is also a social, cultural, economic problem closely related to the issue of national resilience So that policies and precautions and pemberantasannyapun are aimed at maintaining balance in the obligation to protect the sovereignty of the State, the rights of victims and witnesses, and the rights of suspects/defendants.