Overview of Emerging Disease Surveillance and Response
The Emerging Disease Surveillance and Response (ESR) unit works with Member States and partners in the Western Pacific Region to build sustainable national and regional systems and capacities to ensure public health security through preparedness planning, prevention, early detection and rapid response to emerging infectious diseases, including epidemic-prone diseases.
Experience in recent years indicates that public health emergencies, particularly those events caused by outbreaks of emerging diseases, occur in the Asia Pacific region on a regular basis. These health emergencies pose a serious threat to national and regional health security, and bring about serious negative health, economic and social impact.
To confront the challenges, the ESR unit conducts its key activities within the framework of the International Health Regulations (IHR, 2005) and is responsible for implementing the newly updated Asia Pacific Strategy for Emerging Diseases or APSED (2010) that aims to build sustainable national and regional capacities and partnerships to ensure public health security. Endorsed during the 61st Session of the WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific in October 2010, APSED (2010) strengthens preparedness planning, prevention, early detection and rapid response to emerging diseases and other public health emergencies.