April - June 2025

Tonga and WHO join forces to strengthen dengue outbreak response

Dengue cases have increased significantly across the Pacific islands in 2025, including in Tonga, where this mosquito-transmitted illness continues to spread. With technical support from WHO , Tonga's Ministry of Health conducted an Intra-Action Review (IAR) that aimed to identify best practices, challenges, lessons learned, and to propose corrective measures in response actions. Leveraging a whole-of-government, One Health approach, the IAR brought together health workers and officials from management, logistics, finance, administration, clinical services, surveillance, environmental health, and risk communications and community engagement.

“The IAR was an important opportunity to take stock of what’s working, where we need to improve, and how we can strengthen our dengue response together,” said Dr Ofa Tukia, Director of Public Health from Tonga’s Ministry of Health. As a result of the review, Tonga is taking decisive actions to limit the spread of the virus and protect communities across the country

A race against measles: Cambodia’s response to the outbreak

Tem Sreyneth greets children and parents arriving for vaccinations

Measles is one of the most contagious viral diseases, most common among children. Since the start of 2025, Cambodia has seen a sharp increase in reported measles cases across all 25 provinces, and subsequently declared an outbreak. With support from WHO, from May 12 to 19, Cambodia's Ministry of Health rolled out a measles outbreak immunization response across 103 operational districts in all 25 provinces. The outbreak response targeted children aged 6 months to 14 years. WHO is working closely with the National Immunization Program of the Ministry of Health in Cambodia to strengthen surveillance, improve high immunization coverage, and support timely outbreak response efforts.

Leveraging the power of communications to reach people at risk of mpox in Viet Nam

In Viet Nam, WHO experts in HIV, health in emergencies, and communication collaborated to provide a range of support to the Government and people at risk of mpox. A key approach was Communication for Health (C4H), which harnesses insights from social, behavioural and communication sciences to increase knowledge, change attitudes and shift behaviours for improved health outcomes.

Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) partners surge in response to disease outbreaks in the Western Pacific Region: measles and HIV

The Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) continues to play a critical role in global health emergency response, with its partners rapidly deploying technical experts to support urgent public health needs. Technical experts were deployed through GOARN to Mongolia to assist national efforts in containing a measles outbreak, and to Fiji in response to an HIV outbreak. These deployments highlight the critical role of the network in scaling up response operations and reinforcing emergency workforce capacity where it's needed most.

Mongolia: Dr Sapna Sadarangani, an senior infectious diseases clinician from the National Centre for Infectious Diseases, Singapore deployed through GOARN to support national measles outbreak response efforts in Mongolia. Technical support included reviewing clinical management of severe measles cases, particularly among children and high-risk groups; reviewing the epidemiology and characteristics of severe measles cases to update treatment protocols for measles complications; and supporting Mongolia’s Clinical Expert Panel to review severe measles cases.

Fiji: Senior epidemiologists from The Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales, Australia, conducted an in-depth epidemiological analysis of HIV data to better understand the scope and key drivers of the outbreak. They also carried out a comprehensive review of Fiji’s HIV information system identifying critical gaps and bottlenecks across data collection, collation, storage, analysis, and dissemination.

Cook Islands and Vanuatu complete their first Joint External Evaluations

In May 2025, the Cook Islands’ Te Marae Ora (Ministry of Health) conducted the country’s first Joint External Evaluation (JEE) for health security in collaboration with WHO with funding support from the Polynesian Health Corridors and the Governments of Australia, China, New Zealand and the European Union.

The JEE brought together over 60 national and international experts on health security to assess various technical areas, including surveillance, health service delivery, immunization, risk communication and community engagement, antimicrobial resistance, biosafety and biosecurity, zoonoses, point of entry and border health, human resources, financing, and coordination and advocacy. The Cook Islands will utilize JEE recommendations to formulate their national action plan for health security, ensuring a safer and healthier health system for its people and communities.

In June 2025, Vanuatu concluded its first-ever Joint External Evaluation (JEE), a process that assesses a nation’s capacity to prevent, detect, and rapidly respond to public health risks including outbreaks of diseases to events such as cyclones and earthquakes. The evaluation delivered key recommendations to enhance health security. In the past decade alone, Vanuatu has experienced major events including Tropical Cyclone Pam (2015), Tropical Cyclone Harold (2020), Tropical Cyclones Judy and Kevin (2023), outbreaks of influenza and leptospirosis in 2024, and most recently, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake near Port Vila in December 2024, which caused severe damage and loss of life.

“These overlapping crises highlighted the urgent need for resilient, multisectoral systems that can withstand and recover from concurrent hazards, and focus towards long-term preparedness and recovery,” said Mrs Shirley Tokon, Director General of Health, Vanuatu during her opening speech. “The JEE process has given us a clear picture of our strengths and the areas where we must invest further to protect the health of our people.”

Solomon Islands enhances national emergency workforce capabilities with a multisectoral approach

The Solomon Islands Government, in partnership with WHO, completed a risk profiling and emergency workforce mapping exercise from 14 – 17 April 2025. Representatives across ministries, institutions, civil society, and other sectors collaborated to identify potential hazards and mitigate risks. As a result of the exercise, participants were able to assess workforce readiness and identify areas for strengthening capacities.

WHO’s strategic risk assessment (STAR) tool serves as a catalyst for strengthening emergency workforce capabilities. Through the workforce mapping exercise, representatives across sectors in Solomon Islands built consensus around priority hazards and actions to strengthen related emergency workforce capabilities. This workforce mapping will enable the country to identify resources to strategically strengthen national emergency workforce response capacities.

The workforce mapping exercise is an example of how WHO’s Global Health Emergency Corps Initiative (GHEC) is being rolled out across countries in the Region. Through GHEC, WHO supports countries to strengthen, standardize and scale national health emergency workforce capacities. WHO is grateful for contributions from Gates Foundation and the Institute of Philanthropy that enable this work.

Pasifika Medical Association Medical Assistance Team successfully undergoes EMT verification

The Pasifika Medical Association Medical Assistance Team (PACMAT) achieved a major milestone by successfully completing WHO's Emergency Medical Team (EMT) verification process, for Type 1 mobile teams from 12-16 May 2025. PACMAT is a multidisciplinary team of Pacific health professionals, established in 2009 following the Samoa tsunami. Since then, the team has provided emergency support across both Pacific and New Zealand-based disasters, including the recent earthquake in Vanuatu in December 2024. PACMAT is now the 17th WHO-classified EMT in the Western Pacific Region. This work is made possible through the support of New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

A milestone in public health and disease surveillance: Fiji launches Pathogen Genomics Laboratory

In a major advancement in public health in the Pacific, Fiji launched its Pathogen Genomics Laboratory in May 2025. The state-of-the-art facility, based at the Fiji Centre for Disease Control, marks a historic milestone in the country’s ability to rapidly detect, characterize, and respond to infectious disease threats - from antimicrobial-resistant bacteria to viral diseases like influenza, COVID-19 and mpox.

Genomic sequencing acts as a “fingerprint” reader for pathogens, enabling scientists to identify, trace, and understand disease transmission in unprecedented detail. This leap in technology shifts Fiji’s healthcare approach from reactive to proactive, allowing for real-time, in-country insights that protect both public health and the economy.

The launch also contributes to the WHO Western Pacific Region’s vision to equip 70% of Member States with in-country sequencing capacity by 2030. With Fiji’s progress, the region now moves from 48% to 52%—a notable leap toward that goal.

Brunei Darussalam building a healthier future with whole-of-government One Health strategy

In a world where diseases increasingly cross over from animals to humans and where climate and environmental change shape public health risks, Brunei Darussalam is leading the way by taking bold, coordinated steps to protect the health of its people, animals and ecosystems.

Brunei Darussalam hosted a National Bridging Workshop (NBW) from 22–24 April 2025. It was a milestone event that brought together more than 60 experts and officials from across the country’s human, animal and environmental health sectors — to strengthen One Health collaboration and ensure Brunei Darussalam is better prepared to tackle modern health threats at the human-animal-environment interface through a united, whole-of-government approach.

Samoa becomes the first Pacific Island country to launch National Action Plan for Health Security

Samoa has today become the first Pacific Island country to develop a National Action Plan for Health Security (NAPHS), led by the Ministry of Health, with funding support from the World Bank and technical assistance from WHO. The launch of the NAPHS marks a major milestone in strengthening the nation’s preparedness for health emergencies, protecting the health of its people and guiding investments in health security.

“This Action Plan is not merely a policy document; it is a declaration of our resolve to protect our communities, continue to invest in robust infrastructures, and harness innovation to confront challenges head-on,” said Honourable Valasi Luapitofanua To’ogamaga Tafito Selesele, Minister of Health, during his opening remarks about the newly developed plan.

Building a regional network of epidemiology experts to strengthen public health surveillance

Since 2006, WHO has trained more than 200 public health professionals from 17 Western Pacific countries and areas through the Western Pacific Field Epidemiology Fellowship Programme (FEFP), fostering a robust regional network of disease surveillance experts. Alumni from the programme − the Region’s future leaders in public health − form a network that contributes to health emergency preparedness.

WHO organizes annual FEFP alumni meetings to ensure that strengths are leveraged, best practices are shared and regional solidarity in health security is advanced through a community of practice. From 22−24 April 2025, 22 FEFP fellows from 14 countries in the Western Pacific attended an alumni workshop.

Our most recent FEFP fellows from the Republic of Korea, Solomon Islands and Viet Nam reflect on the value of the programme:

Strengthening regional leadership and operational readiness

The Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN), in partnership with the WHO Regional Office for Western Pacific, National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre (NCCTRC) and the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade under the Public Health Operations in Emergencies for National Strengthening in the Indo-Pacific (PHOENIX) Program, conducted a five-day intensive field simulation in Darwin, Australia. The training aimed to enhance operational readiness, leadership capacity, and interdisciplinary coordination among public health emergency responders from countries across the Western Pacific Region.

The exercise brought together 22 experienced public health professionals from 13 GOARN partners across 12 members states from the WHO Western Pacific Region who participated in a scenario-based simulation replicating the complex demands and uncertainties of an unfolding public health emergency. Structured as an immersive field deployment, the training emphasized strengthening both technical competencies and leadership behaviours essential for effective outbreak response.

Enhancing emergency workforce readiness in the Western Pacific

When emergencies strike – be they disease outbreaks, cyclones or earthquakes – countries are expected to activate their public health emergency operations centres (PHEOCs) to streamline actions, manage resources and share critical information.

Recognizing the crucial role of PHEOCs, the World Health Organization (WHO) and Australia's National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre (NCCTRC) brought together PHEOC managers, incident leads and the emergency surge workforce from 18 countries across the Western Pacific Region for a hands-on training from 2 to 6 June 2025.

Through interactive sessions covering various modes of emergency operations, from watch and alert to full-scale response, participants strengthened their skills for better-coordinated responses to domestic and international public health threats.

The power of behavioural science during an emergency response

In April 2025, WHO hosted a regional workshop to strengthen national capacities to apply behavioural science during a health emergency response. Participants from 10 countries across the Western Pacific explored how behavioural insights can inform effective risk communication during outbreaks like avian influenza, dengue and leptospirosis.

WHO introduced its Behavioural Research and Intelligence for Directed Guidance in Emergencies (BRIDGE) approach and related data collection tools: a rapid risk perception survey and AI-powered survey builders. By building national capacities to translate data into actionable insights that inform community engagement actions, WHO enables timely, evidence-informed emergency response efforts.

Western Pacific Surveillance and Response Journal

The Editorial Team of Western Pacific Surveillance and Response (WPSAR) is pleased to announce the publication of latest issue of 2025, Volume 16 Issue 2.

WPSAR is an open access, peer-reviewed journal housed in WPRO/WHE that serves as an information-sharing platform, publishing articles on health security activities for public health emergencies and events in the Region. Our contributors include WPRO and CO staff and consultants, as well as MOH/DOH staff, health-care practitioners and field epidemiologists from across the Region.

If you have an idea for an article, please feel free to consult us by emailing wpsar@who.int.

Latest issue

Global Health Emergency Corps in action

The Global Health Emergency Corps (GHEC) side meeting at the 78th World Health Assembly showcased examples from the Region on how countries are:

Strengthening foundational emergency workforce
Enabling interactions between foundational and surge mechanisms including Emergency Medical Teams and WHO GOARN partners
Connecting leaders to drive investments in the emergency workforce
Leveraging the value of multisectoral collaboration for response readiness.

We thank Health Ministers and partners from Australia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, and Solomon Islands for sharing their insights and experiences. Special thanks to event co-hosts and co-sponsors, including the Gates Foundation and the Institute for Philanthropy, for enabling this work.