Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus , Directoe-General of World Heath Organisation thanked Heath Minister Dr. Harshvardhan for this coordination and collaboration with the WHO, he also appreciated Harshvardhan’s kind support. He further added that through this joint efforts we can fight against COVID-19.
The chief of WHO made announcement through his twitter handle that Union Health Ministry and the WHO- South-East Asia is iniating a systematic engagement of WHO’s national polio surveillance network, and other field staff, for fighting against COVID-19.
APR 16, 2020 13:18 IST
National surveillance project was collaboration of India and WHO back then to fight against polio. After the elimination of polio it was renamed as national public health surveillance project. This project have supported many public health emergency, including Ebola in Africa. NSF Staff can prove to be a great support in COVID-19 surveillance. The NSP field staff can also help in information sharing and sharing of best practices and help states/ districts calibrate their response based on transmission scenarios and local capacities.
Dr Harshvardhan said, this collaboration have already shown their excellence, capability and skills to the whole world , when they defeated polio. He said with our hardwork and knowledge thwy had been able to get rid of polio. The Health Minister then called out to all the field staff- IDSP, state rapid response teams and WHO- calling them ‘surveillance corona warriors”. He asked people keep believe in them as they can save lives and get rid of corona by each other’s support.
Dr Harshvardhan and Dr Poonam Singh together were addressing WHO and other field staff from over 1000 sites across India. Dr. Khetrapal Singh said on the occasion that the National Polio Surveillance Project (WHO-NPSP) has played a significant role in strengthening polio surveillance in the nation that has generated useful, timely and accurate data to guide policies, strategies and interventions until transmission of polio was interrupted. She further said that its high time to come up with great ideas and use every inch of our knowledge with same enthusiasm and efforts as done for polio.
The WHO Regional Director stressed that in the battle against COIVID-19, we have entered a stage where surveillance will play a major role in making future strategies for containment.
