By Tass
MOSCOW, July 7. /TASS/. The World Health Organization (WHO) relies on Russia’s assistance in tackling epidemics and responding to outbreaks of dangerous infections across various regions, the press service of Russia’s Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor) said.
“WHO hopes that Russia’s expertise and capabilities will contribute to fighting epidemics and seeks to engage Russian scientists and experts, as well as teams from Rospotrebnadzor’s mobile laboratories, in containing outbreaks of hazardous infectious diseases worldwide. Moreover, WHO is interested in leveraging Russia’s experience in establishing rapid response systems to counter epidemic threats and using this knowledge to support the development of similar systems in other countries,” the press service quoted Chikwe Ihekweazu, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, as saying.
Rospotrebnadzor has strengthened its systematic approach to delivering medical assistance and currently collaborates with more than 30 countries across four continents. Over the past two years, Russian experts have carried out dozens of missions aimed at containing measles, cholera, severe gastrointestinal infections, monkeypox, Marburg virus disease, and Ebola in Africa and in countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the agency said.
“Russia already assists dozens of countries in ensuring rapid responses to the emergence of dangerous infections, utilizing its own resources and boosting its ability to combat epidemics. We are prepared to support WHO in containing outbreaks of infectious diseases and expect Russian experts to be actively attracted to joint work whenever the epidemiological situation worsens in any country,” the press service wrote, citing Anna Popova, head of Russia’s Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing.
Rospotrebnadzor has created and implemented an immune surveillance system to track population immunity, Popova noted. Russia has already launched joint research projects in this area with Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Serbia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan, and is ready to expand cooperation with a greater number of partners.