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ADB Providing Extra US$3 Million to Improve Emergency Responses to SARS and Emerging Epidemics

MANILA, PHILIPPINES (1 October 2003) - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved additional grant funds of US$3 million to help improve developing countries’ responses to future outbreaks of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and other emerging epidemics.

The supplementary funds, from ADB's Japan Special Fund, financed by the Government of Japan, bring to $5 million the total committed by ADB to regional emergency assistance to combat SARS.

About $1 million of the supplementary technical assistance (TA) grant will meet expected demand for regional and country-specific emergency assistance for five high priority developing member countries (DMCs).

The remaining $2 million will finance a regional infectious-diseases "SWAT" team of four health professionals, to be based for three years at the Western Pacific Regional Office of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Manila.

The regional SARS outbreak earlier this year revealed weaknesses in public health systems in several countries. In response, ADB approved in May a grant of $2 million in emergency assistance to DMCs in public health surveillance, SARS prevention and control, public education, and improved capacity to assess the health and socioeconomic consequences of SARS.

Following government requests, ADB allocated all of the funds by June to support infection control programs in 14 countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Fiji Islands, Indonesia, Kyrgyz Republic, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Nepal, Mongolia, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, and Viet Nam.

In addition, ADB agreed to support a regional proposal for Pacific island countries from the Secretariat of the Pacific Community and established a web site to provide technical information on SARS.

"The supplementary funds will help prevent any SARS resurgence in Asia by strengthening staff and institutional responses of the region's public health services," says Joseph Hunt, ADB's Senior Health and Nutrition Specialist.

"The SARS team will ensure that the highest possible technical advice and training is available at short notice to any developing country threatened by a renewed SARS outbreak or other emerging infections that pose a public health crisis."

The activities to be undertaken will include:

• Strengthening overall communicable disease surveillance, laboratory diagnostic capacity, and surveillance and laboratory networks
• Establishing a strong alert and response capability
• Epidemiological training, covering general surveillance and response that will be vital to providing DMCs with their own expertise.

The SARS team will focus on infection control, epidemiology, public health surveillance, and laboratory development and upgrading to include Asia's laboratories in the global network of surveillance institutions coordinated by WHO.

It will quickly respond to calls for assistance from developing countries to strengthen responses to SARS, investigate local outbreaks, and help them take mitigating steps.

The team members will also develop a strategy for cross-border emergency cooperation, conduct public awareness campaigns, train health staff, and help to improve surveillance systems and infection control measures in hospitals, laboratories, and communities.

"While the team will focus on SARS, the underlying aim of the TA is to develop national resources to ensure self sufficiency in detecting and responding to any other emerging infectious diseases," Mr. Hunt points out.

"The action on SARS needs to be integrated into a longer vision that ensures that investment will improve country capacity to deal with current infectious disease concerns and be able to respond to future threats."

To achieve this, the TA will provide training in a number of DMCs to upgrade personnel skills in epidemic prevention and control. It will also result in a long-term health service plan for the region to coordinate donor assistance around sustainability, health sector reform to upgrade surveillance and protection of population health, and a role for ADB assistance in controlling communicable disease in partnership with WHO.

"Each DMC will be provided with a tailored response to its specific needs," says Mr. Hunt. "Therefore, continuous close communication and collaboration with individual countries will be essential."

ADB will be the executing agency for the supplementary grant, while WHO will manage the four internationally recruited consultants over the three-year period.

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