Muscat – The third Scientific Conference and the sixth meeting of the Eastern Mediterranean Acute Respiratory Infection Surveillance (EMARIS) network kicked off on Monday in Muscat, to deliberate on the region’s preparedness for any influenza pandemic.

The three-day conference is being organised by the World Health Organization (WHO) together with partner organisations and hosted by the Ministry of Health in the Sultanate of Oman.

The theme of this year’s conference – ‘Better preparedness, early detection, and rapid response for respiratory diseases’ – reflects the recommendations from the previous EMARIS meeting and Scientific Conference for the member states, WHO, and partners to enhance their pandemic influenza preparedness plans.

Three days of intense discussions among more than 200 speakers and participants of ministries of health, regional and global experts, including WHO and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will shape the upcoming plans of ‘Acute Respiratory Infections in the Region’.

In his inaugural speech, Dr Ahmed al Mandhari, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, highlighted that this year’s EMARIS Conference has been taking place at a critical time as the region is facing multiple large-scale emergencies caused by conflict, major natural disasters, food insecurity, and numerous outbreaks.

Dr Mandhari stressed the importance of constantly strengthening disease surveillance and early warning systems for early detection of respiratory disease outbreaks – especially in complex emergencies such as those faced by several countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region.

Dr Mike Ryan, Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, commended the EMARIS 2023 calling it a true reflection of the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region Vision 2023, where early preparedness – especially amidst a context of evolving emergencies – is at its core.

H E Dr Said Harib al Lamki, Undersecretary for Health Affairs in the Ministry of Health, Oman, affirmed that EMARIS 2023 conference and meeting is an opportunity to showcase unity against the persistent threat of the respiratory disease of epidemic and pandemic potential leveraging lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr Lamki said that some devastating setbacks were experienced by all of us during the pandemic, “but the crisis has prompted us to invest more in prevention strategies and to be more vigilant about other respiratory viruses that could potentially cause pandemics”.

Dr David E Wentworth, Chief, Virology Surveillance and Diagnosis, Influenza Division, CDC, highlighted that “the global response to SARS-CoV-2 was unprecedented. It challenged us as a global network to quickly adapt to an emerging disease.”