Turkmenistan: Laboratory and Surveillance activities
Turkmenistan is 1 of 6 Member States in the WHO European Region that will receive support from the PIP Framework Partnership Contribution (PC) in the area of Laboratory and Surveillance (L&S) through 2016.
The PIP Framework brings together Member States, industry, other stakeholders and WHO to implement a global approach to pandemic influenza preparedness and response. It aims to:
- improve the sharing of influenza viruses with human pandemic potential; and
- achieve more equitable access for Member States in need of pandemic vaccines and medicines used in a pandemic.
Implementation
The first L&S mission to Turkmenistan funded by the PIP Framework Partnership Contribution was conducted by WHO/Europe in collaboration with the Ministry of Health in July 2014. During this mission, the State Sanitary Epidemiological Inspectorate, the Ashgabat City Sanitary Epidemiological Inspectorate, the National Virological Reference Laboratory, and 3 sentinel surveillance sites in Ashgabat were visited. The sentinel surveillance system was reviewed at national and site levels and the National Virological Reference Laboratory was evaluated using the WHO National Influenza Centre Laboratory Assessment Tool (NIC-LAT).
Several recommendations were defined based on the outcomes of the assessments, including the need to revise a national guideline on influenza sentinel surveillance. WHO/Europe will assist Turkmenistan to execute these recommendations.
