Emerging and epidemic-prone diseases pose serious public health threats in the Western Pacific Region. Over the past years, the Region has experienced significant outbreaks of newly emerging diseases, including Nipah virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and avian influenza. Outbreak of known communicable diseases such as dengue, meningococcal infection, typhoid fever, cholera and leptospirosis continue to occur regularly in the Region.

With most Asian countries experiencing rapid social, economic and environmental changes, including globalization and urbanization, the risk of cross-border transmission of emerging diseases is higher than ever.

That  means there is an urgent need to strengthen inter-country collaboration.  The recently revised International Health Regulations (IHR 2005) require WHO Member States to assess, develop, strengthen and maintain their country's capacity at a level to meet the minimum core capacity requirements for disease surveillance and response. There is an increasing need to develop and implement joint activities so that we can strengthen national and regional capacity to detect and respond rapidly and effectively to emerging diseases and other health emergencies of national and international concern.