ammonnews.net

Ammon News - Health Minister Feras Al Hawari on Wednesday discussed with Samuel Levine, Commander of the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit 3 (NAMRU-3) in Cairo, Egypt, means of cooperation in areas of communicable and infectious diseases, antimicrobial resistance surveillance, insect-borne diseases and the genetic sequence of some novel infectious diseases.

Hawari stressed the importance of this cooperation, praising NAMRU-3's role in contributing to raising the ministry's capacities in area of disease diagnosis and surveillance.

The two officials also agreed on extending, for an additional five years, a joint cooperation program in areas of surveillance for Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI), influenza-like respiratory illnesses, hospital-acquired infections, vector-borne diseases, bacterial response for antibiotics, and other infectious diseases surveillance and response programs.

Noteworthy, the ministry and NAMRU-3 launched in 2006 a respiratory disease surveillance program which led to the establishment of a database that helps in identifying the beginning and end of the influenza season and other acute respiratory infections.