Recommendations of the 31 st SEA-ACHR

1. Review of the 31st WHO SEA-ACHR follow up points of recommendationDr. Gunawan SetiadiRegional Advisor, Research Policy and CooperationWHO Regional Office for South-East Asia

2. Recommendations of the 31st SEA-ACHR • 12 major areas of recommendations • 6 key strategic follow up actions: • Development of regional strategy on research for health • Establishment of SEA-ACHR Subcommittee on Vaccine and Drug Development • Review of the Regional policy on research aspect of immunization • Review of the last five SEA-ACHR meetings (26th – 30th Sessions) and recommendations. • Assess the quality of research supported by WHO SEARO and Country Offices implemented in 2008-2009. • Strengthening research capacity in Bhutan, Maldives and Timor-Leste through countries visits.

3. Follow up actions on the recommendation of the thirtieth session of SEA-ACHR • WHO SEARO has reminded country offices to work closely with Member Countries in developing WHO biennial work-plans on research related activities. • WHO has worked with SEA Network of Medical Council Network and medical councils at the national level in further strengthening the institutional mechanisms for improving ethical standards including research. • Advocacies on Ethical Review.

4. Avian influenza research • Influenza surveillance, including for AI, in the context of the pandemic was formally reviewed by a joint WHO / MoPH team in Thailand 5-9 October 2009. • Regional meeting of National Influenza Centres (NIC) with emphasis on determination of drug resistance in influenza virus was held in Bangkok in August 2010. • Influenza Pandemic related meeting in SEA Region was held in Cochin, Kerala (India) in February 2010 which was jointly organized by SEARO and CDC Atlanta. • WHO collaborates closely with FAO and OIE and there are regular ‘tripartite’ meetings under the ‘One Health’ banner. WHO SEARO held a regional meeting to discuss a ”Public Health Research Agenda for Influenza” in August 2010, • An informal consultation was held in New Delhi from 29-30 October 2009 to assess regional pandemic influenza vaccine production capacity and discuss possibility of public private partnership.

5. Research priorities in communicable diseases • South-East Asia Regional Conference on epidemiology held in New Delhi 8-10 March 2010. Representatives from Member countries participated. • Research Methodology workshop was organized and Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, India, Indonesia from the Region Participates. • Informal Consultation on Research to assess the impact of climate change on communicable diseases was organised at SEARO from 15 to 17 September 2010. • Regional meeting of the WHO Collaborating Centres (WHO CC)on Communicable Diseases was held in New Delhi from  2 to 4 June 2010. • Eight small research grants have been funded each amounting to US$ 7500 from SEARO/CDS  funds.

6. Non communicable diseases • In March 2011, a regional meeting was organised in Jakarta. • 9 out of 11 Member states have conducted national level multisecotral advocacy meetings during July-September 2011   • Surveillance for NCD risk factors have been carried out in 10 out of 11 countries in the Region. • Cost effective interventions for NCD prevention and control have been identified globally; studies will be planned in the next biennium to validate the efficiency and feasibility of these measures. • SEARO has conducted several awareness activities in 2011 including regional and country level meetings, updating of website, preparation of FAQs and fact sheet and advocacy dockets as well as development of human interest stories on NCDs.

7. Research management in countries • Strengthening institutional capacity to report and share good practice, by facilitating regional and global networks, and with the involvement of WHO collaborating centres; • Developing portal for digital journals in Thailand and Indonesia. • Strengthen its advocacy in support of both research and the development of robust national systems for research for health; • continue to promote the development of the comprehensive systems for health information that are necessary in order to support national research priorities; • providing technical assistance to support the strengthening of national systems for health research; • Message has been conveyed to every unit in SEARO and country offices that funds provided for carrying out a research project should include provisions for publication of good quality papers.

9. Research management in WHO/SEARO • All research proposals to be funded by WHO SEARO had been reviewed by Research review Committee. Similar mechanism has been implemented in most of WHO country offices as well. • WHO Country Offices have been supporting medical research council/ health research council to strengthen their capacity in research management, including in coordinating all research being carried out in the country . • WHO SEARO has developed digital library

11. The overall recommendations • Report of the WHO 31st Session SEA-ACHR has been developed and distributed • WHO SEARO has instructed WHO Representatives to use of the WHO Regular Budget (Assessed Contribution) and Voluntary Contribution to support research activities in line with national research priorities. • WHO SEARO has organized workshops on to technically support Member Countries in developing proposal to GAVI and Global fund, including research in priority areas. WHO Country Offices has provided technical support to Member Countries in the proposal development. • Research focal points in WHO Country Offices have been working with national stewardship mechanisms, e.g. National Health Research Council / NIHRD • The Regional Office has developed research management modules and conducted workshops on health research management in most of the countries.