The Department of Defense-Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System (DoD-GEIS) was charged in early 2006, as a result of an amendment to the FY 2006 National Defense Authorization Act, to manage a $39 million Congressional supplement for avian influenza/pandemic influenza (AI/PI) surveillance and response. Subsequent to this increased funding, the DoD requested that the Institute of Medicine (IOM) conduct an external evaluation of their expanded influenza surveillance program.

The committee tasked with this evaluation will provide advice on improving FY 2006 and FY 2007 surveillance and response efforts, and for the longer term, FY 2008, recommend additional surveillance and response efforts that could be undertaken to enhance the likelihood of early detection and timely response to an avian influenza pandemic. Recommendations for changes in support of surveillance and research related to avian influenza and pandemic influenza (AI/PI) preparedness and response will also be provided.

The evaluation will include site visits by small delegations of committee members to DoD facilities in receipt of DoD-GEIS avian influenza/pandemic influenza (AI/PI) surveillance funding, including the five OCONUS (Outside the Continental United States) DoD research laboratories (Bangkok, Jakarta, Cairo, Nairobi, and Lima), the Air Force Institute for Operational Health (AFIOH) in San Antonio, Texas, and the Naval Health Research Center (NHRC) in San Diego, California.

The evaluation of the DoD-GEIS AI/PI surveillance program will attempt to examine the adequacy and utility of the funded programs in view of the evolving epidemiologic factors; how responsive the programs are to the intent of Congress and how consistent they are with the national plans, as well as what the funded sites are doing to ensure coordination of efforts with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, and local governments.
 

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