The project has three aims:
- To strengthen capacity for policy relevant research on surveillance and response
- To map health system risk and resilience in Australia's region of Southeast Asia and the Pacific region
- To develop four ‘real life models’ as templates for future capacity strengthening using focussed examples of country-specific prototype projects
Actions in support of these aims include:
- Modification of existing curricula and delivery of a series of short courses to improve research skills, and foster research publication by health professionals from Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Timor L’Este, and Indonesia.
Assessment of health system resilience considering international health regulation obligations and features of a resilient health system:
- Mapping the risk of epidemic spread and cross- border incursion related to priority pathogens using simulation and modelling
- Constructing a tuberculosis model to support the Fiji Ministry of Health and Medical Services in developing their National TB Control Plan 2017-2020
- Enhancing surveillance and response to Zika virus in the Solomon Islands
- Evaluating the transferability of the spatial decision support system for managing malaria control and elimination to other emerging infectious diseases in the Solomon Islands
- Investigating the distribution and prevalence of important zoonotic diseases in Papua New Guinea
To achieve these aims the Investigators have broken the program of work into three Themes.
