China CDC and Singapore iCDA Sign Memorandum of Understanding

On August 26, 2024, Prof. Shen Hongbing, Vice Administrator of the National Disease Control and Prevention Administration and Director General of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC), led a delegation to visit the Singapore Interim Communicable Diseases Agency (iCDA). During the visit, Prof. Shen Hongbing and Prof. Vernon Lee, Executive Director of iCDA, jointly signed the Memorandum of Understanding between China CDC and iCDA.

 

Prof. Shen Hongbing noted that China and Singapore have long cooperated well in the field of public health, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when public health cooperation was included as a new pillar of cooperation between China and Singapore during the 16th Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation Meeting. The signing of this Memorandum of Understanding is a big step forward for the two countries’ cooperation in public health, helping both parties to strengthen technical exchanges on infectious disease prevention and control, enhance the capacity of pandemic preparedness and response, and ensure the health of people in the two countries and that of humankind.

 

Prof. Vernon Lee remarked that the signing of this Memorandum of Understanding is laying the groundwork for a successful partnership and will help to cement and strengthen that relationship for the future. He expressed anticipation for enhanced information sharing, and for cooperation in areas such as infectious disease surveillance, technology innovation in disease prevention and control, and scientific research, so that the two institutions can respond to future pandemics collectively and effectively.