Fiocruz establishes partnership with Chinese scientific institutions

Brazil’s prestigious Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Shenzhen Third People's Hospital, Beijing Genomic Institute (BGI), Laboratory of Pathogenic Microbiology of the Institute of Immunological Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and the telecommunications company ZTE, in Shenzen, China.

The document establishes the foundations for a scientific cooperation agreement that will allow the setting up of two Brazil-China Centers for Research and Prevention of Infectious Diseases, one in Brazil and one in China.

According to the agreement, the centers will address basic and translational research applied to health, focusing on the prevention and control of epidemics such as influenza viruses, chikungunya, zika, dengue, yellow fever and oropouche fever, as well as other infectious diseases such as tuberculosis. The document represents a follow up the MoU signed between the Foundation and Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) in November, in São Paulo, Brazil.