Developing and implementing a national genomic surveillance strategy – Türkiye's experience - ISS-G20 Laboratorium Repository

 

These efforts are guided by the Global Genomic Surveillance Strategy for Pathogens with Pandemic and Epidemic Potential, 2022–2032, published by WHO in 2022, which provides a high-level framework to strengthen and enhance global sequencing and bioinformatics capacities. The experience gained in the process can be applied to support countries with similar aspirations in the WHO European Region.

 

Since 2021, the WHO Country Office in Türkiye has been working closely with the Ministry of Health and the National Virology Reference Laboratory (NVRL) to enhance genomic surveillance through a project funded by the European Union. Through the project, significant investments have been made in sequencing equipment, computing infrastructure, training for personnel, and data management and sharing.

 

“Development and implementation of the national genomic surveillance strategy for Türkiye are crucial to consolidate the existing laboratory and surveillance infrastructure and capacities, as well as to ensure effective use of the data,” explained Biran Musul, National Professional Officer, who is working on the project.

 

The development of the strategy commenced with a 3-day meeting in Izmir in May 2022. The event brought together participants from 10 countries in the Region as well as Türkiye’s Ministry of Health, WHO/Europe and WHO headquarters. In June, the project team convened a One Health meeting on coordination and use of genomic sequencing for addressing antimicrobial resistance, with participation from 9 European countries. 

 

“Country representatives from all over Europe have shared experiences on mobilizing sustainable funding, developing and adapting sequencing objectives and sampling strategies, and building the laboratory workforce, which paves the way for developing Türkiye’s national strategy,” said Adrienne Rashford, Project Coordinator. 

 

Subsequently, a national task force that includes experts from the Ministry and WHO was established to continue working on the strategy throughout 2022. Several task force meetings have already taken place, and the aim is to have a document endorsed by the Government by early 2023. 

 

Entire content available on: https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/03-10-2022-developing-and-implementing-a-national-genomic-surveillance-strategy---t-rkiye-s-experience