UK and Pakistan to set up an integrated disease surveillance system
The CEO of Public Health England, Duncan Selbie, visited Islamabad and Lahore this week to launch the new team and to discuss priorities with members of the Governments of Pakistan and Punjab.
The CEO of Public Health England, Duncan Selbie
The UK will be providing more support for Pakistan to detect and respond to disease threats, thanks to a new team based at the British High Commission in Islamabad.
Public Health England is working with the Government of Pakistan, the Government of Punjab and the UK aid body, the Department for International Development, to help Pakistan improve its ability to deal with current and emergent public health threats.
In Islamabad and Lahore, the team will work with local authorities to set up an Integrated Disease Surveillance System, which means Pakistan will be able to detect, verify and respond to national and global disease threats or health alerts before they become epidemics.
The CEO of Public Health England, Duncan Selbie, visited Islamabad and Lahore this week to launch the new team and to discuss priorities with members of the Governments of Pakistan and Punjab.
Following a meeting with the Duncan Selbie, the British High Commissioner to Pakistan, Thomas Drew CMG, said:
I am delighted that Public Health England has set up a team here at the British High Commission in Pakistan. Early detection, verification and response to disease threat is vital to saving lives, keeping people healthy and Public Health England has unrivalled skills and experience.
This is only possible because of the vision and commitment of the Governments of both Punjab and Pakistan and I hope that we will be able to work together to save many lives in the future.
The new Public Health England team came to Pakistan following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the CEO of the Public Health England Duncan Selbie and the Chief Minister of Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif. The work is being supported with £1.85 million (about PKR 277 million) of the UK aid funding.
Notes for Editors
The British High Commissioner to Pakistan, Thomas Drew CMG tweets at @TomDrewUK