The majority of the Centre’s collaborative work with WHO is coordinated with WPRO Office in Manilla with the Viral Hepatitis Office within the HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infection Units in the Division of Communicable Diseases and with WHO Headquarters in Geneva. The Centre also works closely with Country Office’s in WPRO including, China, Mongolia, Viet Nam, Laos, Cambodia, The Philippines, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, The Federated States of Micronesia, and Timor-Leste. In addition to working with WHO colleagues (with HQ in Geneva, WPRO in Manila and other regional offices), and with partners at other collaborating centres, staff are honoured to regularly be invited by member states to visit, learn from experts and stakeholders in country, and jointly develop strategies to address viral hepatitis locally and regionally.
In 2015, Member States in the Region approved the Regional Action Plan for Viral Hepatitis in the Western Pacific 2016-2020. The Regional Action Plan and subsequently the Global Health Sector Strategy on Viral Hepatitis 2016-2021 identified strengthening of national surveillance and laboratory capacity systems as a priority action needed for quality hepatitis diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of disease burden.
Prevention, treatment and surveillance programmes are all underpinned by laboratory testing so gaps in laboratory capacity should be accessed and strengthened where necessary. Most WPRO States have health information systems and preventive and care services for viral hepatitis. However previous assessments suggested that capacity for viral hepatitis B and C serology testing was generally poor and quality assurance systems were inadequate, particularly among countries where the viral hepatitis burden is high (Cambodia, China, Mongolia, the Philippines and Viet Nam). The laboratories need support to establish national external quality assessment schemes for hepatitis testing, to use approved test kits and to implement uniform quality management systems and standards in their countries. In addition, support is required to strengthen (and in some countries design and implement): surveillance and monitoring systems to accurately measure and manage diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of disease burden and help to achieve the surveillance milestones outlined in the Regional Action Plan.
WPRO, in collaboration with local, regional and global experts, aim to organise national integrated surveillance and laboratory workshops in high burden countries. WPRO (and their collaborators) have committed to organise national workshops in a range of high burden countries in the region (including, but not limited to, Mongolia, China, Philippines, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Papua New Guinea and Kiribati). As each country is assessed and actions implemented, it is expected that an improvement in the quality of hepatitis testing will occur, supporting hepatitis prevention, treatment and surveillance programmes in the region.
The integrated laboratory and surveillance workshops are the first steps towards the successful establishment of a Regional Network of Hepatitis Reference Laboratories. The aim of this Network of laboratories is to provide quality assurance and quality management programmes to increase and monitor quality of testing in the region, provide advice to implementing partners, surveillance data to monitor intervention and the ability to rapidly respond to outbreaks and emergencies. Establishing a Viral Hepatitis Laboratory Network will also facilitate enhanced surveillance activities by providing guidance and support for seroprevalence surveys and data management systems to collect WHO recommended viral hepatitis diagnosis and treatment monitoring indicators. Currently, no such network exists at the global or regional level within the WHO. WPRO would be the first region to develop a Regional Hepatitis Reference Laboratory Network.
Public Health
