1. TASK FORCE ON WRDs SURVEILLANCE TASK FORCE ON WRDs SURVEILLANCE Monica Francesca Blasi, Paola Meli, Mario Carere, Enzo Funari National Institute of Health -

2. Origin   The First Meeting of the Parties (Geneva, 17-19 January 2007) established a Task Force on “Surveillance and early-warning systems, contingency plans and response capacities”, lead by Italy.

3. Base of activities   work accomplished before the first Meeting of the Parties under the Water Convention’s Working Group on Water and Health;   guidance documents of the World Health Organization (WHO) related to communicable disease surveillance;   International Health Regulations IHR (2005).

4. Framework of cooperation   WHO Centralized Information System for Infectious Diseases (CISID);   WHO Health for All database;   European Centre for Disease Surveillance and Control;   WHO Epidemic and Pandemic Alert and Response system;   WHO Collaborating Centre for Health- Promoting Water Management and Risk Communication.

5. WORK TO BE UNDERTAKEN   (a)Prepare guidelines on surveillance, outbreak detection and early warning systems, contingency plans and capacity response, taking into account established WHO guidelines for adoption by the Parties at their second meeting:   (b)Support the guidelines’ implementation by providing assistance, upon request, to Parties and non-Parties through in-country missions (up to six missions should be organized in 2008-2009).

6. 1° meeting of the task force   At the Italian National Institute of Health, in Rome on 24-25 September 2007.   The meeting was attended by representatives from Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, Norway, Romania and Slovakia

7. Activities of the task force   Questionnaire to assess the current capacity of water-related disease surveillance, and elaboration and publication of replies;   (b)Guidance materials (technical and policy guidelines);   (c)Scientific workshop;   (d)Assistance and in-country support.

8. Questionnaire   information on the surveillance of diseases which can be transmitted through water in relation to:   priority, emerging and locally important diseases;   organization of the surveillance systems;   laboratory capabilities to detect pathogenic microorganisms;   public information on the importance of water- related diseases;   outbreak detection; capacity of response;   training;   databases and mapping/GIS resources

9. Questionnaire   hosted in electronic format on a protected site of the ISS (http://cms2.iss.it/).http://cms2.iss.it/   questionnaire, as well as information on registration, access and compiling: sent to the Protocol’s national focal points.     only eight countries have replied so far (Andorra, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Norway, Slovakia and Turkey)   … language barrier……..

10. Questionnaire information from the questionnaire→   updated state-of-the-art on the surveillance systems of water-related diseases in the UNECE region;   burden of water-related diseases in the region;   critical areas/situations   assistance programs and training activities.

11. Policy guidelines   SECTION 1: POLICY SETTING   Problem setting   Water-related diseases Definition of water-related diseases Economic importance to national development   National policy requirements National health systems and water-related diseases Core functions Laboratory management and accreditation Capacity building and continuous education Importance of outbreak detection, prevention and management Intersectoral collaboration   International policy aspects Transboundary cooperation Compliance with binding international agreements Participating to international cooperation programmes

12. Technical guidelines   (This section is based on guidance previously prepared by the WHO collaborating centre on health promoting water management and risk communication at the Institute of Hygiene, University of Bonn, Germany. Unless otherwise indicated, the collaborating centre will update the information contained herein in line with the time table foreseen in the body of the report)   Introduction   Water-related pathogens   Chemical risks

13. Technical guidelines   Water safety Water source Water treatment Water distribution networks Monitoring Water safety plans

14. Technical guidelines   Water-related disease surveillance Setting up a national water-related disease surveillance system Evaluating a surveillance system Epidemiology Specific methodological challenges Detection, investigation and reporting of water-related disease outbreaks

15. Technical guidelines   Application of geographical information systems (GIS) to epidemiological studies Introduction Application of GIS to water-related disease epidemiology Case studies   Conclusions   Case studies

16. Scientific workshop   opportunity to organize specific scientific workshop on how to assess the relative weight of water-related diseases in the overall burden of communicable disease in the WHO European Region

17. Assistance and training   To be better defined on the basis of the analysis of the replies to the questionnaire   Ssome countries have already requested assistance for the organization of water- related disease surveillance system or training.

18. Future workplan   The activities of the Task force are scheduled as follows: May 2008: first draft of the policy guidance document; September 2008: first draft of the document with the analysis of the results from the replies to the questionnaire; completion of the technical guidelines October 2008: Second meeting of the Task Force; December 2008: Scientific workshop.