Technical note on the SARInet and REVELAC-i networks

Abstract

From May 14-16, 2024, the regional meeting of the Severe Acute Respiratory Infections Network (SARInet) and the Network for the Evaluation of Vaccine Effectiveness in Latin America and the Caribbean - influenza (REVELAC-i) was held in Mexico City to share experiences on surveillance, diagnosis and immunization of influenza and other respiratory viruses. More than 190 people from 36 countries participated in this meeting, in addition to professionals from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)/World Health Organization (WHO), the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), the Council of Ministers of Health of Central America (COMISCA) and the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA). At the meeting, the milestones achieved by the SARInet network over the last 10 years, the main challenges and next steps were discussed. Summaries of the presentations and sessions given by the speakers are presented in this note.

Prior to 2014, there was an informal network of laboratories in the Region of the Americas region, with about 30 countries conducting sentinel surveillance for severe acute respiratory infections (SARI), more than 900 sentinel centers, 28 National Influenza Centers (NICs) and 6 national laboratories. However, a mechanism for sharing information and best practices was lacking. The inaugural meeting of the SARInet network was held on May 30, 2014 in Panama, integrating laboratories and epidemiologists to improve surveillance. Over time, more strategic actors were added, such as health services networks, clinicians, general practitioners and operational research specialists, expanding a phenomenon that expanded the network to include components according to the needs of the countries. The network was operationalized and materialized through working groups focused on disease burden, genomic surveillance, clinical management and vaccine effectiveness, evolving which allowed its evolution since 2006 and improved the published guidelines and published protocols and guidelines.