[Distinguished Open Lecture] WHO’s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network and how recent infectious disease emergencies are changing our approach
The WHO’s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) aims to improve global health security by coordinating resources, ensuring preparedness for and appropriate responses to major outbreaks. The recent COVID-19 pandemic, other infectious disease events and unprecedented humanitarian emergencies have called for reform of the global response strategy whereby the emphasis changes towards local capacity building to ensure countries are more resilient to the health, social and financial impacts of infectious disease emergencies.
In this presentation, Prof. Dale Fisher will discuss the renewed global approach considering the 3 major building blocks of governance, systems and financing with a whole of government and whole of society approach. Well-coordinated interconnected core capabilities including surveillance, community protection, access to countermeasures and safe and effective clinical care need to be embedded as part of preparedness efforts. Only such pre-emptive efforts will enable the best response in a future emergency.
WHO’s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network and how recent infectious disease emergencies are changing our approach
Date: | 21 September 2023 (Thursday) |
Time: | 12:00 noon – 1:00 pm (Hong Kong Time, GMT+8) |
Format: | Online |
Speaker: | Professor Dale Fisher Professor, Yong Loo Lin School Of Medicine, National University Of Singapore; Chair, National Infection Prevention and Control committee, Ministry of Health, Singapore; Group Chief of Medicine, National University Health System |
Moderator: | Professor Paul Poon Clinical Assistant Professor, Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong |
CME accreditation applied for the following HKAM Colleges.
College | Point | Group-Category |
Hong Kong College of Community Medicine | 1 | PP-PP |
The Hong Kong College of Family Physicians | Pending | Pending |
Hong Kong College of Physicians | 1 | PP-PP |
About Speaker:
Professor Dale Fisher has served as a member of the WHO’s Global Outbreak Alert & Response Network (GOARN) steering committee since 2013 and was chair from 2018 to 2022. He has committed to GOARN through outbreak response trainings, global and regional network meetings and outbreak deployments. He was one of the 12 international technical experts who visited China in February 2020 to investigate the COVID-19 outbreak. During the pandemic, he was on an advisory group to the WHO Director General.
Prof. Fisher is currently a Professor at National University of Singapore. He is also the Chair of the National Infection Prevention and Control committee at the Ministry of Health, Singapore and Group Chief of Medicine at National University Health Systems.
Prof. Fisher has received numerous National awards including the Courage foundation award for work during SARS in 2003, the Healthcare Humanity award (2015), the minister for Health Award (2018), the National Outstanding Clinician Award (2021) and a Commendation Medal for his contribution during the COVID-19 response (2023). He has published over 200 articles in the international peer-reviewed literature and given over 160 invited and plenary presentations at international conferences on infectious disease management, infection control and outbreak response.
About Moderator:
Professor Paul Poon is a registered medical specialist in public health medicine in Hong Kong, and he is also a family medicine fellow of The Hong Kong College of Family Physicians (FHKCFP) and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP). He has experience in practising public health medicine in the Department of Health of Hong Kong for more than 10 years. Prof. Poon also had chance to work in the Regional Office of the Western Pacific (WPRO) of the World Health Organization (WHO). He is an examiner, a trainer and a member of the Public Health Medicine Subspecialty Board of the Hong Kong College of Community Medicine (HKCCM), and a diplomate examiner for the Faculty of Public Health (FPH) of the United Kingdom.