In late 2005 and early 2006, NTI developed a close working relationship with the Rockefeller Foundation (RF), whose Southeast Asia Regional Office has supported an important collaboration among the Ministries of Health in six countries in the Mekong Basin area (Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and China-Yunnan province) to strengthen national and sub-regional disease surveillance capacity.  The Mekong Basin Disease Surveillance (MBDS) members have identified challenges to developing a surveillance system that operates across borders, responds quickly to regional disease threats, and works to create equity in the national capacities to detect and respond or, better yet, prevent local outbreaks from developing into regional or even global emergencies.

NTI will utilize the infrastructure created by Rockefeller to engage the MBDS stakeholders in tabletop exercises to openly examine the challenges of a regional approach to the surveillance, early detection, and response to a major biological event such as that posed by avian or pandemic influenza.  NTI has previously worked with the RAND Corporation in similar exercises at the local and state level in Georgia. RAND is helping plan, develop and conduct simulation exercises for MBDS countries at the national and regional level.  These exercises will help the individual countries, Rockefeller, and others in the planning and execution of responses needed in the event of a real pandemic influenza emergency.

The exercise has three primary objectives:

• Identify strengths of the surveillance and response plans and systems in each country and areas for improvement
• Identify strengths and areas for improvement in regional collaboration related to pandemic influenza surveillance for and response to a pandemicngage the MBDS stakeholders in tabletop exercises to openly examine the challenges of a regional approach to the surveillance, early detection, and response to a major biological event such as that posed by avian or pandemic influenza.  NTI has previously worked with the RAND Corporation in similar exercises at the local and state level in Georgia. RAND is helping plan, develop and conduct simulation exercises for MBDS countries at the national and regional level.  These exercises will help the individual countries, Rockefeller, and others in the planning and execution of responses needed in the event of a real pandemic influenza emergency.
• Examine key elements of pandemic influenza surveillance and response to be agreed upon by the MBDS partners, which may include:
  • Surveillance
  • Surge capacity planning
  • Continuity of operations planning
  • Communicating with the public
  • Coordination and communication within and across countries
  • Communicating with and through the media
  • Vaccine and antiviral medications
  • Disease prevention and control