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Regional directors of national influenza laboratories to enhance collaboration
19 December 2019 - Directors of national influenza laboratories (NICs) in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region met for two days to discuss issues and solutions for challenges in laboratory surveillance for seasonal, avian and other pandemic influenza viruses. The meeting, held in Casablanca, Morocco, on 16–17 November 2019, also included...
WHO supports improvement of regional influenza sequencing and molecular phylogenetic capacity
Laboratory technicians from 11 regional countries trained on influenza sequencing and molecular phylogenetic analysis. (Photo: WHO/A. Barakat) 8 December 2019 – Ensuring the availability of adequate regional and national capacities to perform genetic sequence analysis of influenza viruses is one of the priorities for WHO in the Eastern...
Strengthening Iraq’s influenza surveillance system
WHO experts assessing laboratory capcities in Iraq during mission. (Photo: WHO) 5 December 2019 – To improve the influenza surveillance system and overall national pandemic influenza preparedness in Iraq, WHO conducted a mission on 16–19 September 2019 to assess the country’s influenza surveillance system and laboratory capacity and review...
Updating the EWARN evaluation protocol for the Region
Participants from seven regional countries participated in the workshop to evaluate EWARN protocol. (Photo: WHO) A process has begun to strengthen the Early Warning Alert and Response Network (EWARN) by reviewing and updating its evaluation protocol. As part of the process, WHO held a workshop in Amman, Jordan, on 21–24 October 2019 to share and...
WHO supports Sudan to enhance cholera diagnosis at its laboratories
Rapid response team member in Sennar being trained on the use of rapid diagnostic tests (Photo: WHO) In its efforts to support the Government of Sudan to address the cholera outbreak declared by the Federal Ministry of Health on 8 September 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) conducted a technical mission to review the readiness of central...
Evaluating Yemen’s disease surveillance and early warning system
Participants from the Ministry of Public Health in Yemen participated in the workshop. (Photo: WHO) The World Health Organization (WHO) in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) in Yemen organized a workshop to prepare and develop an action plan for the evaluation of the country’s surveillance system which is based on the Early...
Early Warning Alert and Response Network launched in Djibouti to detect epidemic-prone diseases
The Early Warning Alert and Response Network (EWARN) has been launched in Djibouti to strengthen the country’s surveillance system for priority and epidemic-prone diseases. The system will allow health authorities to receive high quality epidemiological data that is accurate, complete and available on a real-time basis. The launch took place as...
WHO and partners mobilize antiretroviral drugs for HIV-positive children in Pakistan
WHO experts reviewing medical facility records in Pakistan 27 August 2019 – The HIV outbreak in Pakistan, which infected 903 people in Larkana district of Sindh province, as of 4 July 2019, is most likely due to unsafe injection practices and poor infection control practices in health facilities. The Federal Ministry of Health of Pakistan...
Jordan: First country in the Region to start implementing WHO's Emergency Risk Communication Package
A workshop participant discusses the Emergency Lifecycle model (Photo: WHO) From 15 to 18 July, the Ministry of Health in Jordan, with the support of WHO, conducted a 4-day training workshop on Emergency Risk Communication. Doing so, Jordan has become the first country in the Region to implement three components of the Emergency Risk...
WHO builds Rapid Response Team capacity in Eastern Mediterranean Region with Japan’s support
H.E. Mr Masaki Noke (center) addresses the workshop participants with WHO experts Dr Peter Mala (l) and Dr Maria van Kerkhove (r) (Photo: Simon van Woerden/WHO) This week over 50 experts in surveillance, field epidemiology, infection control, laboratory and more are convening in Cairo for a Rapid Response Team (RRT) training. Rapid Response Teams...
