The Regional Committee,

         Having considered the report of the Sub-Committee of the Regional Committee on Programmes and Technical Cooperation on its visits to Cambodia and Vanuatu to review WHO's collaboration in the area of emerging and re-emerging diseases;*

         Recognizing the value of the work of the Sub-Committee to Member States;

1. THANKS the Sub-Committee for its work;
2. ENDORSES the recommendations in the report on country visits of the Sub-Committee;
3. URGES Member States:

   (1) to improve and maintain national communicable disease surveillance systems and to ensure emergency preparedness for disease outbreaks;

   (2) to facilitate effective pre-service and in-service training for the development and upgrading of human resources in the field of control and prevention of communicable diseases;

   (3) to improve coordination and management of inputs from international organizations, governmental organizations and nongovernmental organizations;

4. REQUESTS the Regional Director:

   (1) to ensure logistical support for disease outbreak response including regional stockpiles of basic supplies and equipment, emergency transportation, and dispatch of experts during outbreaks;

   (2) to facilitate rapid exchange of information among Member States on disease situations and on country experiences in disease outbreak management;

   (3) to maintain WHO's support for surveillance and epidemiology and for training in new information technology;

   (4) to continue the evaluation of country visits by members of the Sub-Committee to fully determine their value to WHO, the participants and the host countries and to report the findings of the evaluation to the Regional Committee at its forty-ninth session;

5. REQUESTS the Sub-Committee, as part of its terms of reference in 1998, to review and analyse the impact of WHO's cooperation with Member States in the field of Healthy Cities-Healthy Islands, with particular reference to health information systems;
6. DECIDES that the countries to be visited in 1998 should be Fiji and Malaysia.

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