Enhanced Surveillance for Detection and Management of Infectious Diseases: Regional Collaboration in the Middle East

Abstract

Formed before international negotiations of the revised International Health Regulations (IHR), the Middle East Consortium for Infectious Disease Surveillance (MECIDS) is a regional collaboration aimed at facilitating implementation of the revised IHR and, more broadly, improving the detection and control of infectious disease outbreaks among neighboring countries in an area of continuous dispute. Initially focused on enhancing foodborne disease surveillance, MECIDS has expanded the scope of its work to also include avian and pandemic influenza and other emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. Here, we describe the history and governance of MECIDS, highlighting key achievements over the consortium's seven-year history, and discuss the future of MECIDS.

Surveillance for Emerging Diseases with Multiplexed Point-of-Care Diagnostics

“…An extensive consideration of political and economic realities is essential to the success of biosurveillance systems and was identified as a part of the Rockefeller Foundation initiative promoting regional surveillance networks. 8,39 Descriptions, lessons learned, and suggestions of paths forward were provided by the Mekong Basin Disease Surveillance Network, 40 the East African Integrated Disease Surveillance Network, 41 the South-Eastern European Health Network, 42 the Middle East Consortium on Infectious Disease Surveillance, 43 the Asian Partnership on Emerging Infectious Diseases Research, 44 the Southern African Centre for Infectious Disease Surveillance, 45 and the REASAOLAB project involving clinical laboratories in West Africa. 46 One consistent issue with all of these efforts is how to sustain the long-term activity and continuity in training and interactions that is so crucial to the productivity and trust necessary for crisis response.…”

Promising Pathways for Regional Disease Surveillance Networks

“…These networks can also cooperate in regional procurement, such as bulk purchase of equipment or vaccines, and in developing common protocols for laboratory testing (14, 15, 40) or disease reporting.…”

Creating a Global Dialogue on Infectious Disease Surveillance: Connecting Organizations for Regional Disease Surveillance (CORDS)

“…Driven by that incentive and with the support and partnership of NTI, the Rockefeller Foundation, Peter G. Peterson Foundation, the Fondation Mérieux, and the Skoll Global Threats Fund, the leaders of six existing regional disease surveillance networks founded CORDS. The six networks, all of which are described in detail elsewhere in this issue (see also Table 1) are: Mekong Basin Disease Surveillance Network (MBDS) (15), East African Integrated Disease Surveillance Network (EAIDSNet) (16), South Eastern European Health Network (SEEHN) (17), Middle East Consortium on Infectious Disease Surveillance (MECIDS) (18), Asian Partnership on Emerging Infectious Disease Research (APEIR) (19), and Southern African Centre for Infectious Disease Surveillance (SACIDS) (20). During CORDS's early years, NTI served the role of interim secretariat; Fondation Mérieux provided a home in Annecy, France, for convening CORDS.…”

“…Examples of the horizontal collaboration being nurtured by CORDS include the spontaneity of the relationships among MBDS members being instrumental in forming the ASEAN Plus Three Centre for Emerging Infectious Disease, where 6 of the 13 members are MBDS members (15). Examples of vertical collaboration include WHO, OIE, and UN System Influenza Coordination (UNSIC) work with MBDS to develop scenarios and plan and carry out a series of pandemic preparedness tabletop exercises (19); WHO and MECIDS collaborating on IHR implementation strategies (18); and WHO assistance with the SEEHN regional assessment of national pandemic preparedness (17). …”