EMARIS is a network of countries in the Region working together to strengthen and enhance influenza surveillance, improve the use of surveillance data for developing control programmes and for conducting research related to influenza and other respiratory viruses. Meetings of the EMARIS network have been held regularly since 2011 in order to share best practices for influenza surveillance, track progress, and draw important lessons on public health preparedness for pandemic influenza.

The Second Scientific Conference on Acute Respiratory Infection in the Eastern Mediterranean Region and 5th Meeting of the Eastern Mediterranean Acute Respiratory Infection Surveillance (EMARIS) Network is a conference of experts on acute respiratory infection (ARI) surveillance which aims to improve the quality of surveillance, data and data management, and policy in the field of ARI. The conference is organized by the World Health Organization’s Regional Office for the Mediterranean, in partnership with the Ministry of Health of Morocco, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Oman Medical Journal.

During the Conference, participants will review achievements and challenges, share evidence and best practices on severity assessments and outbreak detection, discuss how to use surveillance data for better policy, and document and showcase scientific achievements and new operational research findings.