PIP workshop on outbreak investigation and response

Under the aegis of the Pandemic Influenza Preparedness (PIP) Framework, an intercountry workshop was organized by the WHO/Europe and the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in July 2016 in Vienna, Austria. The first version of a training package for the implementation of national guidelines on outbreak investigation and response (OIR) was presented at this workshop. The package has been jointly developed by WHO/Europe and RKI.

Participants included representatives from the national communicable disease control centres and the ministries of health of Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, as well as members of the national working groups. These organizations had been involved in the national OIR guideline development activities supported by WHO/Europe and RKI in 2015. Representatives of the medical post-graduate training institutes from each of these countries also attended.

At the workshop participants discussed next steps for OIR training implementation and evaluation at the national and subnational level. They also agreed that the format of the training module is good and that it meets requirements.

It was decided that the countries, WHO/Europe and RKI will develop the in-country training time-table for national OIR guideline finalization, based on the results of the discussions on the proposed training package and its country-specific adaptation.