Background
Malaria elimination requires strong, evidence-based surveillance strategies that allow programs to identify and respond to every malaria infection. For countries to make better informed decisions on how to effectively implement surveillance strategies, further evidence and guidance on the operational aspects of surveillance, particularly in the context of broader, integrated data and surveillance systems, is needed.
The Surveillance and Response Working Group (SRWG) was established in 2014, to be a peer-led, technical working group for APMEN Country Partners and Partner Institutions. The SRWG’s primary objectives are to expand the knowledge base, guide the region-specific operational research agenda and address evidence gaps, through the lens of integrated health systems.
Objectives
The APMEN SRWG aims to further develop and coordinate surveillance and response activities that support malaria elimination in APMEN countries and accelerate progress towards the Asia Pacific regional elimination goal of 2030.
Functions
As a result of the outputs from the SRWG, malaria programs in the region contributed heavily to the development of minimum essential indicators for surveillance and response, which have been shared with and used by important stakeholders such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, WHO, and other donors and implementation partners at the global and regional level. SRWG, in collaboration with JIPD conducted a surveillance and response assessment with Country Partners to identify solutions to improve implementation of case-based surveillance. In early August 2019, 17 entomologists from central and sub national programs were trained to use the Entomological Surveillance Planning Tool (ESPT), In response to the capacity building request from Country Partners, SRWG collaborated with RITM, MORU and LSTMH and Geo-Health Labs to organize a basic training for risk and receptivity mapping using customized GIS techniques.
To expand the knowledge base, the SRWG maintains a monthly newsletter to keep members engaged with ongoing and innovate research that is produced in the region. The newsletter includes Research Highlights with curated list of published papers and commissioned summaries by lead authors, and updates on activities of the Working Group and our APMEN partners. You may review past issues in our archive here.
Governance and Coordination Team
The APMEN Surveillance & Response Working Group is currently supported by a coordinating team from the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit.
Professor Xiao-Nong Zhou has been Director of the National Institute of Parasitic Diseases at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Chinese Center for Tropical Diseases Research) and the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Tropical Diseases since 2010. He is also serving as Vice Dean, School of Global Health, Chinese Center for Tropical Diseases Research, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine.
Professor Zhou is a leading expert in the research and control of parasitic diseases, with over 40 years’ experience by implementation of One Health approaches. He also had long-term cooperation experiences with the international agencies, such as World Health Organization, and has served as member of international expert committees. He has led more than dozens of research projects in collaboration with multi-institutions at national and international levels. He has been a highly-cited researcher since 2016 due to publication of more than 400 peer review publications in the international journals, including New Engl. J. Med., Nature, Lancet, and Lancet Infect. Dis., etc.
Professor Zhou graduated with a PhD from Copenhagen University, Denmark, in 1994. He was awarded National Outstanding Contribution Expert by the Ministry of Health in 2008, the Public Health and Preventive Medicine Development Contribution Award of the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association in 2010, and Shanghai Outstanding Academic Leader in 2011, respectively.
Professor Maude is Head of the Epidemiology Department at Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Bangkok, Thailand and Associate Professor in Tropical Medicine at the University of Oxford, UK, Honorary Consultant Physician at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford and a Visiting Scientist at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, USA. He has worked at Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit since 2007 where he leads a portfolio of epidemiological research on malaria, dengue and COVID-19.
Massaya is a young professional trained in public policy research, with a strong interest in the analysis of economic development policies. Recently she has delved into the public health sector after joining the Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, but her professional portfolio also includes over three years of coordinating and supporting programme activities at national and inter-governmental organizations. Massaya received a Masters in Public Administration, specializing in economics and governance, from Leiden University in the Netherlands.