Australia is supporting partner countries to build capacity for health systems to anticipate, prevent, detect and control priority disease threats through the Regional Engagement in Surveillance and response to Priority diseases, providing Opportunities for National health system strengthening and Development (RESPOND) partnership with Menzies School of Health Research.
RESPOND supports the development and implementation of initiatives that will build healthcare capacity and resilience in the region. It engages health partners in the Asia Pacific to enhance clinical surveillance and align with International Health Regulations for integrated disease surveillance and response across Indonesia, Malaysia, and Timor-Leste.
As a leading medical research institute, Menzies will establish high throughput laboratory and data processing capacity in genomics and serology. This will monitor communicable diseases including TB, malaria, vaccine-preventable diseases, melioidosis, and neglected tropical diseases.
Through RESPOND, Australia is bolstering health systems, improving diseases monitoring, and ensuring effective responses to communicable disease threats in our region.
