Regional workshop to strengthen VPD surveillance and outbreak response in SEARO
Dates: 23-24/04/2024
Venue: Colombo, Sri Lanka
Participants: A total of 60 participates representing nine member States (MOH, EPI and Surveillance focal points), 10 WHO offices (EPI, Surveillance, and data focal points) and partners (BMGF, USCDC, UNICEF, WHOHQ) attended the meeting.
Overview:
The meeting was organized by WHO Regional offices for South-East Asia supported by UNICEF, USCDC and the Ministry of Health of Sri Lanka.
The first day of the meeting was focused on review of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases (VPD) surveillance of member States where the status, issues, and challenges on VPD surveillance was presented. Global and regional perspective on VPD surveillance was presented by the secretariate. Peer reviews were conducted for these presentations by at least two other representatives of Member States and partner agencies and feedback provided accordingly.
The second day was dedicated to conducting Table -Top Simulation Exercise on Outbreak preparedness and response to measles and polio outbreaks.
The third day was dedicated to global and regional perspective on VPD surveillance data management followed by Data Quality Assessment and Improvement plan. Group works were conducted on the SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) and Desk review of data quality.
The final day had field visit to various health facilities of Sri Lanka to understand recording reporting and VPD surveillance in the country.
Outcomes:
The purpose of the meeting was to strengthen capacity to conduct high quality VPD surveillance and outbreak preparedness-response for priority VPDs including measles, rubella, and polio to achieve the disease elimination goals outlines in the RVIP 2022-2026. At the end of the workshop, country teams developed action plans for the next two years to strengthen VPD surveillance and presented to the plenary.
Further resources: Meeting resources - OneDrive (sharepoint.com)
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Author: PAHO
Photo camption: Participants discussion about recording and reproting for VPD surveillance with the health officer during field visit in Colombo, Sri Lanka