Designing Early Warning and Response System for Punjab
Working with Turkish Public Health Institute

A delegation from Punjab attended a five-day workshop (24-28 July 2017) with a team from Turkiye Halk Sagligi Kurumu (Turkish Public Health Institute – TPHI) on Early Warning Response Systems (EWRS) in Ankara, Turkey. The purpose of the visit was to use Turkish

expertise to develop an EWRS in Punjab. The delegation consisted of the key technical team of PMU-PPHA and representatives from WHO and PITB. Four working groups were constituted, each focusing on one of the following key subject areas: the development of an EWRS set up; the monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of such a system; the Information Technology (IT) components that need to be in place to underpin system functioning; and finally, the human resource and capacity building requirements to ensure the smooth functioning of surveillance and response mechanisms. At the end of five days, each of the four Working Groups from the Punjab delegation shared presentations, final reports, and work plans to demonstrate what each technical group had achieved in their time in Ankara, and what could be done to set up an EWRS structure in Punjab.