05/24/2023 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 05/24/2023 07:45
The 75th Southeast Asia Regional Committee endorsed operationalization of the 75th World Health Assembly (WHA) agenda item 17.3 on influenza preparedness. In this regard, the WHO Regional Office for Southeast Asia (SEARO) supports implementation of the Global Influenza Strategy 2019-30. Regional efforts are aimed at strengthening country capacities through technical assistance to national influenza programmes. In view of strengthening influenza like illness (ILI) /severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) surveillance capacity in Timor-Leste, SEARO conducted a joint national and international review from 21 -25 November 2022.
The key objectless of the review were:
The international reviewers were from the national influenza programmes of Nepal and Bangladesh, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and WHO. The reviewers visited two community health centres, two referral hospitals, the Hospital National Guido Valadares and the surveillance department of the Ministry of Health.
The review concluded that the country has a geographically representative ILI/SARI sentinel surveillance system that has been leveraged for integrated monitoring of influenza, SARS-CoV-2, and respiratory syncytial virus. The review highlighted the availability of standard operating procedures, established laboratory and epidemiological linkages, innovative sample transportation systems, digitized dashboards for easy access to data, and a functional data management system.
Among the recommendations for further strengthening surveillance capacity, the following were highlighted as being significant:
Capacity strengthening supported by the PIP Partnership Contribution was cited as an avenue to implement review recommendations on Timor-Leste's ILI/SARI surveillance system.