The effectiveness and impact of public health and social measures (PHSMs)
Public health and social measures (PHSMs) are a key strategy to reduce the transmission of pathogens with epidemic or pandemic potential. PHSMs include non-pharmaceutical interventions that can be taken by individuals, institutions, communities, local and national governments and international bodies to slow or stop the spread of an infectious disease, such as COVID-19. Individuals can, for […]
4th SARInet /SARInet plus Caribbean meeting
From December 13 to 16, the Fourth Meeting of SARInet of the Caribbean will be held in the City of Miami, and the first under the name of SARInet plus. This meeting will be coordinated by the PAHO Influenza Team and will include the participation of Caribbean Member States and technical experts from PAHO and WHO, the U.S.A CDC and CARPHA, among others. One of the fundamental objectives of this meeting is to identify the interdependencies that the different units that make up the surveillance systems have for optimal performance of their functions.
Regional meeting of SARInet and REVELA-i – Barbados
From May 17-19, 115 SARInet and REVELAC-i members from 28 countries and territories attended this joint meeting, including collaborators from PAHO regional and country offices, WHO, COMISCA, CARPHA, and the Collaborating Center for WHO at US CDC During the virtual meeting, participants discussed the way forward to strengthen SARInet, effectively sharing opportunities and lessons learned from integrating SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in the surveillance platform for influenza and other respiratory viruses, and leveraging the use of data obtained through sentinel surveillance to estimate the burden of disease, vaccine efficacy, and impact.
SARInet: COVID-19 and Influenza’s surveillance integration.
Within the framework of the Sarinet Network, between March 29 and 31, the expert consultation on the integration of COVID-19 surveillance with influenza and other respiratory virus surveillance was held in Panama. This activity had the following purposes: 1. identify the priorities of the countries in the surveillance of COVID-19, influenza and other respiratory viruses to respond to the current pandemic and future epidemics; 2. determine how sentinel surveillance and complementary surveillance systems should be organized to respond to these challenges; 3. help countries overcome obstacles to surveillance beyond COVID-19.
