Address by Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari to the regional meeting on integrated disease surveillance in the Eastern Mediterranean Region and workshop on DHIS2
I would like to welcome you to these two vital back-to-back events focusing on the enhancement of integrated disease surveillance by the World Health Organization Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean. As we gather today, both in-person and virtually, we bring together our shared commitment, knowledge and experience to protect the health and well-being of our communities.
The COVID-19 pandemic has underlined the need for effective public health surveillance. It is a core component of health information systems and public health intelligence, detecting potential public health threats and monitoring disease morbidity and mortality to guide prevention and control measures. Effective disease surveillance and response not only saves lives, but also offers a high return on financial investment by helping us to potentially avoid large-scale economic disruption from epidemics and pandemics.
In recognition of this, the WHO Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean adopted a resolution in October 2021 urging the Member States of the Region to implement effective, integrated disease surveillance systems by the end of 2025. Effective IDS entails good governance and multisectoral coordination to organize the convergence of disease and programme-specific surveillance systems towards integration. The Regional Strategy outlines ten areas of work that come with indicators to characterize the baseline and goal. I would like to remind our esteemed delegates of their commitments towards integrated disease surveillance, and ask for their continuous support and engagement in achieving this goal.
Our first event, the Regional Meeting on Integrated Disease Surveillance in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, aims to address the challenges highlighted in the Regional Committee technical paper and set out in the proposed regional strategy for integrated disease surveillance. This strategy will guide Member States in strengthening and integrating their national surveillance systems, feeding into regional and global efforts to strengthen collective public health intelligence. Our goal is to ensure that integrated disease surveillance strategies align with and support integrated national health information systems, creating a robust and efficient network for the early detection of, and response to public health threats.
Following the regional meeting, we will focus on the practical aspects of electronic disease surveillance during the workshop on DHIS2. Under the direction of the Integrated Disease Surveillance Technical Working Group, the workshop will help our Member States harness the power of technology to implement integrated disease surveillance systems. We will explore the capabilities of DHIS2, a widely-adopted platform for disease surveillance, and how it can be customized to meet the unique needs of our Region. The workshop will feature hands-on sessions, demonstrations, and opportunities for participants to provide input on customizing DHIS2 modules and functionalities.
As WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, I am confident that our collective efforts during these two events will not only pave the way for the successful implementation of integrated disease surveillance in our Region, but will also foster stronger regional collaboration and knowledge-sharing. Let us work together in the spirit of unity, cooperation and mutual learning, to build a healthier and safer future for our people, to achieve WHO’s regional vision of “Health for all by all”.
Closing remarks by Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari to the regional meeting on integrated disease surveillance in the Eastern Mediterranean Region and workshop on DHIS2
As we reach the end of this productive and insightful integrated disease surveillance meeting in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to each and every one of you for your active participation and valuable contributions over the past 5 days. Together, we have achieved a great deal in advancing our understanding of integrated disease surveillance and response, and we have laid the groundwork for future collaborations and improvements in this vital area of public health.
As you know, integrated disease surveillance is a critical tool for public health. It allows us to track the spread of diseases, identify outbreaks early, and take action to prevent them from becoming major public health threats.
In recent years, we have seen a number of major outbreaks of infectious diseases, including Ebola, Zika, and COVID-19. These outbreaks have had a devastating impact on people's lives, and they have also highlighted the importance of strong integrated disease surveillance systems.
The good news is that we have made significant progress in developing integrated disease surveillance strategy in the the Region. We have put in place new technologies and systems, and we have trained a large number of health workers in surveillance techniques.
However, there is still more work to be done. We need to continue to strengthen our surveillance systems, and we need to make sure that they are accessible to all countries in the Region.
Throughout this meeting, we have had the privilege of hearing from esteemed speakers and experts who have shared their knowledge and experiences. The agenda was carefully designed to cover a wide range of topics, including the global and regional overview of integrated disease surveillance, best practices, challenges, and lessons learned in IDS/R implementation, surveillance workforce, monitoring modalities, DHIS2, engagement of stakeholders, and key domains/strategic directions of IDS.
I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the organizing committee from Oslo University as well as the Regional Office, and all the individuals and organizations involved in the successful planning and execution of this meeting. Your hard work and commitment to excellence have been truly commendable.
As we conclude this meeting, it is essential to highlight the significance of the collective efforts we are undertaking. Integrated disease surveillance plays a crucial role in detecting and responding to public health threats, and our commitment to strengthening these systems is paramount. The outcomes and recommendations generated during this meeting will serve as a foundation for future action, guiding us towards more robust integrated surveillance systems, enhanced coordination, and improved collaboration among countries and external partners.
In summary, let us seize the momentum generated during this meeting to propel our efforts forward. Let us work together, with renewed determination and a sense of shared responsibility, to advance the cause of integrated disease surveillance and response in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. I am confident that by continuing to collaborate, exchange knowledge, and support one another, we can achieve our common goal of a healthier and more resilient region.
Address by Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari to the Third Eastern Mediterranean Acute Respiratory Infection Surveillance (EMARIS) Conference
It is a pleasure to be here in Muscat with you today and I would like to start by thanking Oman – and the Ministry of Health in particular – for generously hosting this third EMARIS Conference. This is the latest example of a longstanding collaboration between WHO and Oman which has also benefited many other programme areas such as patient safety, injury prevention, road safety, mental health, and many others.
This year’s EMARIS Conference takes place at a critical time. Our Region faces multiple large-scale emergencies caused by conflict, major natural disasters, food insecurity, and numerous outbreaks.
Over 55 outbreaks were reported in the Region in 2022, compared with 31 major outbreaks in 2021 and 14 in 2020, of which many are due to respiratory pathogens. Response efforts were overstretched, and health systems were overwhelmed. In all, over 7 million reported cases and at least 1400 associated deaths resulted from these outbreaks last year.
While this conference is an excellent opportunity to take stock of progress, achievements, challenges, and lessons learned related specifically to acute respiratory infections in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, we must not lose sight of the overall context of health emergencies more generally.
In this challenging context, your collective efforts have borne fruit. We have seen remarkable progress in strengthening and enhancing systems to prevent, prepare for, detect, and respond to emerging respiratory diseases including COVID-19, influenza, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and others. This is manifested in the early detection of disease outbreaks, rapid deployment of resources and timely investment in laboratory capacities.
As part of this work, last year WHO developed a regional framework and operational plan to integrate the surveillance systems for influenza, SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory viruses with epidemic and pandemic potential. As a result, many countries in the Region are now implementing integrated surveillance of influenza and other respiratory diseases. This is part of a broader agenda in the region to develop integrated disease surveillance, starting with all communicable diseases.
Additionally, and guided by the regional roadmap to increase the utilization and uptake of the seasonal influenza vaccine, WHO is supporting countries to introduce and expand their national influenza vaccination policies and strengthen their influenza vaccination programmes, thanks to our partners at the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, PIP Framework and Task Force for Global Health.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, another milestone in disease surveillance was achieved when 21 countries and territories in the Region developed domestic genome sequencing surveillance capacity. This offers benefits beyond COVID-19 detection as it also enables the continuous monitoring of pathogens and the analysis of their genetic similarities and differences.
WHO continues to support the improvement of sentinel surveillance for Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) and influenza-like illnesses (ILIs) in all countries in the Region; 21 of the 22 countries are currently implementing SARI and ILI surveillance with enhanced data collection and analysis attributes.
At WHO, we have made it one of our top regional priorities in humanitarian settings for 2023 to strengthen countries’ capacities to prevent, detect and respond to disease outbreaks and other health emergencies, with a particular focus on research and evidence generation.
We cannot do this alone. Leveraging EMARIS 2023, I urge you to continue prioritizing the improvement of disease surveillance and early warning systems for the early detection of outbreaks.
In closing, let me stress the importance of solidarity and partnership among all stakeholders in tackling the complex and critical health challenges that have brought us here today. We must all work together to ensure Health for All by All and to promote a One Health approach.
I wish you all a very successful meeting and look forward to hearing your experiences, ideas, and latest research findings.
I thank you.
