The communicable disease surveillance and response programme held a regional consultation to develop tools to calculate the burden of influenza and other respiratory infections in the Eastern Mediterranean Region in Cairo, Egypt from 15 to 17 May 2012. Selected experts in the field of influenza, including academics, field epidemiologists and staff from WHO headquarters and the Regional Office attended the meeting.
The objectives of the consultation were to develop a regional tool for countries to calculate the burden of seasonal (and pandemic) influenza. The consultation agreed on a defined roadmap for the estimation of influenza disease burden in selected countries in the Region. The consultation also led to the development of a guidebook for the estimation of influenza disease burden in the Region.