Avian Influenza : Impacts and Key Policy Messages for Asia

Abstract

In 2004-2005, outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in poultry were reported in 8 countries in South East and East Asia (China, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Laos PDR, South Korea, Thailand and Viet Nam) and caused serious damages to the poultry sector. In order to improve regional response to the threat of pandemic influenza through joint research activities and to translate research results into practice, the Asia Partnership on Avian Influenza Research (APAIR) was formed, and the APAIR Coordinating Office (CO) was established in January 2007 and housed at the Health Systems Research Institute (HSRI) of Thailand. APAIR initiated and coordinated joint work among different institutions in the most severely affected Asian countries to fight avian influenza. The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) provided the start up support for APAIR. In 2009 a new pandemic, H1N1 swine flu, threatened to kill millions around the world. Members of APAIR saw the opportunity to apply lessons learned from avian influenza to this and other infectious diseases. Thus, APAIR expanded its scope to include all emerging infectious diseases and was renamed the Asia Partnership on Emerging Infectious Diseases Research (APEIR). APEIR is a regional initiative composed of researchers, practitioners and senior government officials from Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam. APEIR brings together representatives from more than 30 partner institutions (research institutions, universities, ministry departments) to form an alliance to conduct research, mobilize knowledge, and advocate for policy and practice change in agricultural and public health. A steering committee sets the strategic directions of the work of APEIR and appoints and guides the activities of the partnership. APEIR applies a 3-M approach. It is a multi-country, multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral research network. It has enabled researchers and experts from the agricultural and health sectors to explore joint research and policy questions in animal and public health. APEIR has served as a platform for exchange of and discussion on emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) both at country and regional levels, allowing partnering institutions to learn from past experiences and to plan for future collaborations. In order to address the complexity of emerging infectious diseases, the partnership uses an ecohealth/onehealth approach and brings together a combination of researchers with a mix of knowledge and skills.