The 3rd Scientific Conference on Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI) and the 6th Meeting of the Eastern Mediterranean Acute Respiratory Infection Surveillance (EMARIS) Network, hosted by Oman at the Kempinski Hotel Muscat, reinforced preparedness, detection and response to the respiratory diseases in the eastern Mediterranean region.
Held in cooperation with the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the Regional Office of the World Health Organization (WHO) for the Eastern Mediterranean, the three-day conference had a series of workshops such as Infodemic and Community listening for Events of Respiratory Viruses caused by epidemics and pandemics - learning from the Covid-19 pandemic and new tools; establishment and expansion of seasonal influenza vaccination in the region - policy, programmatic considerations and best practices and influenza disease burden estimation - data needs, methods and tools.
The scientific meeting and conference was held under the auspices of Dr Said bin Hareb al Lamki, Under-Secretary for Health Affairs, Ministry of Health, in the presence of senior officials from the ministry, WHO, and the Eastern Mediterranean countries.
Dr Al Lamki stated that over the past three years, the Covid-19 pandemic triggered an enormous scope of research, studies and scientific publications, which allowed the health policy makers and experts to be in a better position than they were before the pandemic.
“However, there is still more to be done, especially in our region and we hope that many of success stories, good practices and experiences will be shared in this conference," he noted.
Dr Ahmed al Mandhari, Director, WHO, Eastern Mediterranean Region, indicated that in 2022, more than 55 outbreaks were reported compared with 31 in 2021 and 14 in 2020, many of which are attributed to respiratory infections.
These outbreaks have reportedly resulted in more than 7 million cases and nearly 1,400 associated deaths. He explained that SARS, in particular, is a major cause of morbidity and death in the region, and has a significant impact on health and economic development. He urged all countries to focus on the priorities of strengthening integrated systems and structures for respiratory disease surveillance within the framework of an action programme or supporting integrated disease surveillance at the community level and building capacity to detect, prevent and control respiratory diseases, including seasonal influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, the Middle East respiratory syndrome and other vaccine-preventable respiratory diseases, expanding and rolling out seasonal influenza vaccination, facilitating research to fill knowledge gaps and guide public health policy, linking global efforts to country priorities, facilitating knowledge sharing and collaboration on influenza and other respiratory diseases.
The first day of the conference had visual presentations on the ARI Surveillance Network Conference for the Eastern Mediterranean 2023, genomic monitoring of SARS epidemic strains circulating in France during six waves of the pandemic, estimation of hospitalisation rates associated with influenza using accurate surveillance data, and estimation of the direct medical cost of entry hospitals in Oman.
Tuesday’s scientific session touched upon the fragmented health systems in Covid-19: rectifying the misalignment between global health security and universal health coverage, the Global Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (HEPR) architecture: WHO’s new vision and priorities for epidemic and pandemic control, and Surveillance as a Core Essential Public Health Function: Rebuilding Resilient Health Systems in EMR to advance the Dual Goals of Universal Health Coverage and Health Security.
The session also highlighted a case from Somalia in strengthening health systems in fragile settings to advance better pandemic preparedness.
The conference and the 6th EMARIS meeting also addressed mass gatherings and surveillance for emerging infectious diseases, the sustaining investments in health security made during the pandemic, burden of influenza disease estimation - experiences and new tools, as well as the One Health Approach and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) surveillance, preparedness and response.
Dr David E Wentworth, Chief, Virology Surveillance and Diagnosis, Influenza Division, Centres for Disease Control (CDC), called influenza as seasonal and belittled the impact it has. "They annually create epidemic all over the world and in the equatorial region, middle part of the globe, influenza circulates all the time and it does not have seasonality. We really want to improve our ability to deal with the epidemic viruses like influenza and need to improve the technologies, capabilities and partnerships to rapidly respond to pandemic threat,” he said.
Influenza is always a pandemic threat because it exists in so many species and it can jump from those species to humans quickly. Dr Wentworth noted that once it happens the virus can adapt very fast so we have to be ever vigilant when viruses jump from animals to humans. So meetings like EMARIS is important in building partnerships, learning from each other, knowing how different ministries of health, groups and countries are dealing with the viruses.
Dr Richard Brennan, WHO’s Emergency Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, said, “We have learned from the recent pandemic and now we have to build on the capacities that we have developed throughout the pandemic and sustain it by making sure that we continue to invest in laboratory capacity, surveillance capacity, clinical capacity and engaging with communities.”
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