Influenza Virus Sharing Essential for Pandemic Preparedness: Yemen Achieves Milestone with WHO Collaboration
Virus sharing is crucial for global pandemic preparedness, enabling the development of vaccine candidates, monitoring antiviral resistance, and updating diagnostic tools. Due to ongoing conflict, Yemen has struggled to share virus samples annually with the WHO Collaborating Centers under the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS).
In May 2024, Yemen reached a significant milestone by successfully shipping its first 50 samples of seasonal influenza viruses to the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza in London. This achievement was made possible through continuous support from WHO over several years.
Yemen’s Central Public Health Laboratories (CPHL) became the National Influenza Centre during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. After the COVID-19 emergency, Yemen expanded its respiratory disease surveillance system to monitor both influenza and SARS-CoV-2 viruses, with support from WHO. The country has since enhanced its ability to subtype influenza and other respiratory viruses, integrating this data into the national surveillance program and GISRS.
In March 2022, WHO experts conducted a mission to Yemen, coordinating with the WHO Country Office to reactivate influenza sentinel sites suspended during the COVID-19 emergency. The mission focused on training staff from the Ministry of Public Health and CPHL in virus testing and sharing, following the Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework, and ensuring compliance with WHO requirements for respiratory virus testing.
Since January 2023, samples have been collected at influenza sentinel sites and confirmed at CPHL’s regional centers using PCR tests. However, logistics challenges, including a lack of dry ice needed for international shipping due to the war and embargo, prevented the sharing of confirmed samples until May 2024.
With WHO’s support, dry ice was delivered to Aden, Yemen, from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on May 13, 2024, via the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service. The samples were then flown to Amman, Jordan, before being sent to London by international courier, where the WHO Collaborating Centre for Influenza received them for further analysis.
The same logistics process will be used for future shipments until Yemen can produce dry ice locally, ensuring continued contribution to global influenza surveillance.
