Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) face significant inequity in terms of access to vaccines and other biologics and are making efforts to establish biological manufacturing in their regions. Establishing such manufacturing capacity, through bilateral technology transfer or through local R&D efforts is frequently hampered by the lack of a workforce trained in biomanufacturing.
To address this gap, and to build the biomanufacturing capacity in LMICs, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Ministry of Health and Welfare of the Republic of South Korea (MOHWK) are working towards establishing the first of a kind Global Training Hub for Biomanufacturing. This hub will provide training in the manufacture of high-quality vaccines and biologics in an industrial setting to contribute to resolve the inequality in access to vaccines and biologics worldwide. Exclusively, it will do this by expanding manufacturing capacity in LMICs. In the meantime, introductory training programs on biomanufacturing, operated by the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) in Seoul, South Korea are being offered to interested parties.
In 2022, two training courses were organized for about 330 participants from more than 30 LMICs. For the second year, the Republic of Korea, in agreement with WHO, is organizing new training from the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) focusing on the introduction to biologics development and manufacturing.
Places for 120 trainees from LMICs are available for the June 2023 course which will take place in Seoul, South Korea.
To learn more about the introductory course on Biologics Development and Manufacturing and submit your application, please visit this web page.