On June 19-20, 2023, WHO CO in Turkmenistan met with the public health specialists of the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry of Turkmenistan (MoHMIT) to discuss and finalize the draft national guideline on sentinel epidemiological surveillance of influenza and acute respiratory infections (ARI) in Turkmenistan.
The meeting was held at the conference hall of the Center for Public Health and Nutrition of the State Sanitary and Epidemiological Service (CPHN of the SES) of the MoHMIT and brought together WHO CO representatives as well as responsible specialists for influenza and ARI surveillance coming from SES of all 5 velayats of Turkmenistan, Treatment and prophylaxis department of the MoHMIT, CPHN of the SES of the MoHMIT, Department of Infectious Disease Prevention Centers, Dangerous Infections Prevention Center, hospitals and the State Medical University of Turkmenistan named after M. Garryyev.
Over the course of the meeting the participants learned about the current influenza surveillance situation in the region, reviewed the implementation progress on Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Project in Turkmenistan, implementation progress on epidemiological and laboratory surveillance of influenza, ARI, SARS-CoV-2 in the country, discussed the draft national guidelines for sentinel epidemiological surveillance of influenza in Turkmenistan and the implementation of integrated epidemiological and laboratory surveillance of influenza and SARS-CoV-2.
At the end of the meeting the participants discussed the joint activities and further steps on capacity building for epidemiological and laboratory surveillance of influenza and ARI in the country, as well as joint activities within the framework of the Action Plan under Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Mechanism in Turkmenistan for 2024-2025. ///UN Turkmenistan, 26 June 2023
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