Quality epidemiological data derived from syndromic Influenza Like Illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) surveillance is essential for understanding trends of consultations and admissions for respiratory diseases, threshold setting, detecting and confirming outbreaks early, and informing evidence-based public health decision-making.
In line with WHO’s global guidance a recent mission by WHO South-East Asia Regional Office (SEARO) recommended Myanmar to strengthen collection of quality epidemiological data through the sentinel ILI/SARI surveillance system and report core data to the WHO’s RespiMart to assist national and global public health decision making.
As part of this effort, the country will collect key epidemiological indicators from its influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) sentinel surveillance system. These include the total number of ILI and SARI cases, as well as the total number of outpatient visits and inpatient admissions, aggregated by standard age groups used by the Global Influenza Surveilance and Response System (GISRS). Such data are critical for monitoring activity of respiratory infections for which outpatient or in-patient care is sought, determining potential respiratory outbreaks and severity reflected by hospital admissions and deaths, and supporting national public health decision-making.
Myanmar will also strengthen its contribution to the WHO Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS) through weekly reporting of epidemiological data to the WHO FluID platform. Timely reporting will support national, regional and global monitoring, of respiratory disease activity, risk assessments and outbreaks preparedness and response efforts.
WHO recognizes laboratory assisted epidemiological surveillance of respiratory threats as a key component for understanding seasonal trends, patterns of transmission, affected population groups, and public health impact, as well as for supporting the early detection of and response to emerging respiratory threats.
To support effective implementation, WHO SEARO facilitated with the WHO Global Influenza Programme (GIP) a virtual orientation training on 18 June 2026 for national programme staff on integrated respiratory surveillance data reporting through RespiMART and related WHO reporting platforms. The session aimed to strengthen national capacity for standardized data collection, analysis and reporting, further enhancing Myanmar’s contribution to global influenza surveillance and preparedness efforts./countries/myanmar/fluid_thumbnail.png?sfvrsn=7e78d8b8_4 "fluID_thumbnail")