Global meeting highlights progress and challenges in rotavirus and pediatric diarrhea surveillance

Venue: Jaipur, India.

Dates:  18-20 February 2026

The Global Rotavirus and Pediatric Diarrhea Surveillance Meeting was held to bring together key network stakeholders to review progress and identify priorities for strengthening surveillance and response to pediatric diarrheal diseases.

Participants highlighted how surveillance data are increasingly being used to inform national health policies and guide vaccine prioritization. However, persistent challenges remain, including limited and unreliable financing, workforce shortages, procurement delays and insufficient capacity building and retention.

Despite the introduction of rotavirus vaccines in more than 131 countries, rotavirus continues to be the leading cause of hospitalized diarrhea in children under 5 years. Gaps in implementation, suboptimal vaccine coverage, stockouts and product switches continue to limit vaccine impact.

Other finds were discussed, including the increasing detection of equine-like G3 rotavirus strains, with a higher proportion observed among vaccinated children. A dedicated laboratory working group will be established to further investigate this using the global rotavirus surveillance network (GRSN) data. Shigella was identified as another major contributor to severe pediatric diarrhea globally, findings from the global pediatric diarrhea surveillance (GPDS) showed. Efforts are underway to expand antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance of diarrheal pathogens, through the addition of new AMR target genes in sample testing for 2025 and 2026. Ongoing work will focus on optimizing surveillance networks, identifying key research questions, and selecting sites with the appropriate characteristics to address remaining evidence gaps.

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Author: Iyer Shilpa, WHO's Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals
Photo: Meeting participants, WHO