ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani government unveils the WES Strategy as well as the National WES Genomics Dashboard, which is an important step for the public health system in Pakistan. The unveiling ceremony was attended by the federal minister of national health services, regulations, and coordination, Syed Mustafa Kamal, who officially launched the two important initiatives from NIH in Islamabad.
A National Health Surveillance Initiative
The event to mark the beginning of the strategy of wastewater surveillance in Pakistan attracted high-level delegates representing various health and sanitation institutions of the country. The delegates present at the event were representatives from the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination; National Institute of Health; various Provincial Health Departments; Water and Sanitation Agencies; along with international guests from the Aga Khan University and Duke-NUS Centre for Outbreak Preparedness (Singapore).
In his address to the delegates, Kamal, the Federal Minister, reiterated the resolve of the government to improve the surveillance systems in the area of public health. He pointed out that WES is an important strategy for improving warning and detecting outbreaks, as well as making decisions based on evidence in public health. He further emphasized the need to upgrade the wastewater treatment systems.
WES System to Enhance Outbreak Detection
As the WES system is launched at a time when there are still new challenges of infectious diseases in the world, the importance of the occasion is of high significance. According to Dr. Muhammad Salman, Chief Executive Officer at NIH, the launch is very significant for the country’s outbreak preparedness efforts.
According to him, the WES platform will help detect priority pathogens early, make evidence-based decisions, and improve the capacity of Pakistan in preventing and responding to future public health threats through an integrated One Health approach. The One Health approach acknowledges the interconnection between the three health disciplines in disease outbreaks.
Expanding on Pakistan’s Polio Surveillance Success
Pakistan starts its WES strategy by capitalizing directly on experience gained through its environmental surveillance programme targeting poliovirus, which is one of the most advanced disease surveillance programmes in Pakistan. The new National WES Strategy uses this successful experience for implementing surveillance for different infectious diseases of public health importance, instead of a single disease.
The launch ceremony was also used to unveil the National WES Dashboard, which is maintained at NIH. This dashboard uses the surveillance and laboratory data for real-time monitoring, mapping of disease trends, and outbreak preparedness.
Behind the Development of the Pakistan WES Strategy International Collaboration
The development of the strategy of WES in Pakistan was done through a consultative process facilitated by NIH in collaboration with AKU and Duke-NUS Centre for Outbreak Preparedness. Contributions were made at the federal ministry level, province departmental level, technical level, and public health stakeholder level to highlight the extent of collaboration needed.
Initial Tests Yield Promising Results
Prior to implementing the country-wide wastewater testing plan, government representatives conducted a pilot test of the system in 14 different locations in the cities of Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, and Karachi. According to Dr. Afreenish Amir of NIH, the pilot tests successfully illustrated the usefulness of the wastewater monitoring system as an early warning mechanism.
By rolling out this wastewater surveillance strategy at the national level in Pakistan, the project is placing Pakistan amongst those countries that have taken the initiative of using environmental surveillance as a pro-active public health measure. This framework for a national sewage surveillance program includes a lot of long-term plans like implementation of standard protocols, genomic surveillance, and collaboration with various stakeholders.
The success of this initiative in the long run will require continued investment, development of treatment systems and collaboration between government departments and international partners as emphasized by the officials at the ceremony held on Thursday.
Nayab Fatima is a media professional specializing in fact-based journalism, research, and analytical reporting on technology, telecom, aviation, and automobiles.
