WHO South-East Asia Region Enhancing Multi-Source Surveillance

The Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO) South-East Asia Region are enhancing multi-source surveillance to strengthen public health intelligence and provide evidence for decision-making during complex health emergencies marked by uncertainties and compounded by multiple vulnerabilities.

“Through our experience in responding to pandemics and emergencies, we have learned that decision-making in health emergencies should be informed by a synthesis of multiple sources of information. This approach requires strengthening surveillance systems and capacities, as well as fostering collaboration among diverse stakeholders from multiple sectors,” said Saima Wazed, Regional Director, at the three-day regional meeting ‘Advancing Multisource Collaborative Surveillance in WHO South-East Asia Region’, held recently.

Emphasising that robust laboratory systems are the backbone of effective surveillance, Wazed called for increased investment in sustainable diagnostic capacities.

“The future of health security in our region depends on sustainable investments in surveillance and laboratory capacities, timely data sharing, and cross-sectoral partnerships,” the Regional Director stated.

Officials from Member States leading surveillance efforts for epidemic- and pandemic-prone diseases, public health laboratories, national public health operations centres, and surveillance in other sectors such as animal health, environment, and meteorology, as well as those responsible for communicating events under the International Health Regulations (IHR), alongside experts and partners, participated in the meeting.

They discussed priority actions to enhance collaboration among in-country surveillance stakeholders across sectors and to improve international information sharing and cross-border cooperation in the context of the amended IHR 2005.

Decision-making during pandemics, epidemics, climate change-driven health emergencies—such as vector-borne and waterborne diseases—and other threats arising from the human-animal-ecosystem interface (zoonoses, food-borne diseases, antimicrobial resistance), as well as health threats caused by disasters and humanitarian crises, requires multi-sectoral solutions.

To support countries in operationalising the concept of multi-source surveillance, the WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia has developed a regional manual, “Informing Public Health Decision-Making with Multisource Collaborative Surveillance: A Step-by-Step Approach.” Using this manual, Indonesia and Nepal have initiated the implementation of multisource collaborative surveillance (MSCS), and more countries in the region are planning to roll out MSCS. In line with this approach, India has proposed the creation of a South-East Asia Network for Transboundary Collaborative Surveillance, which is expected to be discussed with Member States later this year.

The MSCS approach is critical, as gathering and synthesising information from different sources is not always straightforward. Surveillance systems and data are owned by different stakeholders both within and beyond the health sector, and mechanisms for timely and effective data sharing and synthesis are not always in place.

Participants also explored opportunities to adopt innovations and enablers to strengthen early warning surveillance systems and public health intelligence. Discussions included the roles of genomic surveillance and wastewater surveillance as part of multi-source collaborative surveillance. They further deliberated on priority actions for developing national action plans to guide the governance, implementation, and sustainability of genomic surveillance systems through a multisectoral approach.

“We must continue to embrace innovation and foster stronger regional collaboration,” the Regional Director said, reiterating WHO’s commitment and her vision to promote regional and multi-sectoral cooperation, including among One Health stakeholders, and to leverage innovation to improve public health in the WHO South-East Asia Region.