IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Developing WHO South-East Asia’s regional manual for laboratory diagnosis of Nipah virus infections (NiV)
Guided by recommendations of a multi-disciplinary expert committee on NiV, WHO SEA Regional Office collaborated with the WHO Collaborating Centre for Strengthening Capacity for Emerging Infectious Diseases at ICMR-NIV, Pune to develop a roadmap and regional strategy for combatting Nipah in WHO’s SEA Region. A draft regional laboratory manual will guide future laboratory diagnostic activities while ensuring quality and safety aspects of the diagnosis of NiV infections. Read more
HEALTH OPERATIONS AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT
In consultation with WHO HQ, the Regional Office has developed a range of materials for training biomedical engineers and professionals working in the oxygen ecosystem management. The focus being to make them more competent to support regional/country office and member states regarding oxygen producing, storing and delivery devices as well as medical gas pipeline system. Read more
INFECTIOUS HAZARD MANAGEMENT (IHM)
Seasonal, pandemic and zoonotic influenza activities
For better understanding of influenza, an analysis of FluNet and FluID datasets was extracted for 2015–2021 to assist global community with their regional and national prioritization of influenza work. An attempt was also made to study the epidemiology and characterization of influenza viruses in patients with Severe Respiratory Acute Infections along Central Asian Flyways in India in 2019–2020. Read more
High threat pathogens
To address the challenge posed by Influenza in the South-East Asia Region, there has been pressing need to generate contextual evidence with potential to inform policy makers and programme managers for response preparedness and impact mitigation a bibliometric analysis of medical literature on Influenza published from/ on SEAR over the past 21 years was undertaken to identify gaps in research evidence. Read more
UPCOMING MEETINGS AND EVENTS
- WHO Public Health Laboratories Webinars - Biological Risk Assessment, 10 November
- WHO BioHub System - Technical Consultation, 19 November
- 15th Steering Committee Meeting of the Emergency Management Centre for Animal Health (EMC-AH), 23 November
- International Webinar: The Importance of Laboratory-Based Surveillance to Support National Health Security System, 17 November 2021
RESOURCES
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) training: Online training
CONTACT US
Dr. Pushpa Ranjan Wijesinghe, Programme Area Manager
wijesinghep@who.int
Infectious Hazard Management, WHO Regional Office for SEA
https://www.who.int/southeastasia/outbreaks-and-emergencies/infectious-hazard-management