Emergency government response team for global infectious disease outbreaks—a Japanese challenge
Wada et al. Tropical Medicine and Health
Emergency government response team for global infectious disease outbreaks-a Japanese challenge
Koji Wada 0
Yasuo Sugiura 0
Hidechika Akashi 0
Tamotsu Nakasa 0
0 Bureau of International Health Cooperation, National Center for Global Health and Medicine , Tokyo , Japan
Tropical Medicine and Health
The Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa made it clear
that international emergency assistance must be
strengthened [1]. The Japanese government has contributed to
combating infectious disease outbreaks by extending
emergency aid to affected countries through international
organizations, such as the World Health Organization
(WHO) and the Red Cross, and by providing emergency
relief directly to affected countries. The Japanese
government also dispatches individual experts on infectious
diseases to affected regions through the Global Outbreak
Alert and Response Network of the WHO [2]. During the
Ebola virus outbreak, Japan contributed approximately
USD173 million in emergency aid and through various
technical cooperation programs, and dispatched 20
experts to the affected countries through the WHO [3].
In October 2015, the Japan Disaster Relief (JDR)
Infectious Diseases Response Team was established to
respond to large-scale infectious disease outbreaks at the
request of governments requiring technical assistance
with these outbreaks [4], although a scheme for
responding to natural disasters, the JDR, has been in place since
1987 [5]. The Japanese government offered to take the
initiative in protecting human security during the G7
Ise-Shima Summit in 2016, and this new scheme was
established in accordance with this policy [6]. The aim of
this letter to the editor was to share the characteristics of
the scheme and benefits which were identified based on
the first dispatch to Democratic Republic of the Congo
(hereinafter DRC).
The JDR Infectious Diseases Response Team is a national
team that collaborates with the relevant governmental
agencies in the affected countries and international
partners, including the WHO. The team would offer effective
assistance in those areas specified by the governments of
the affected countries. During the mission, the team will
also be supported by the country that requested assistance,
which will provide the necessary coordination in the field.
Another strength of the team is that it is supported by
multidisciplinary and comprehensive expertise. The JDR
Infectious Diseases Response Team includes five areas of
expertise: epidemiology, public health, clinical issues
(treatment and infection control), laboratory testing and
diagnosis, and logistics. Japanese experts from different
organizations voluntarily register for membership of the
team; approximately 200 experts had registered as of
August 2016.
The government of the DRC declared a yellow fever
outbreak in three provinces on June 20, 2016, after
identifying the first case of yellow fever on March 22, which
was imported from the Republic of Angola, where a
yellow fever outbreak had been identified [7]. On May 19,
the WHO declared that the yellow fever outbreak in
DRC and Angola was a public health concern requiring
international assistance [8]. In July 2016, the JDR
Infectious Diseases Response Team was dispatched on the
first mission to respond to the yellow fever outbreak [9].
Based on the request of the government of the DRC,
the team comprised experts in public health, infectious
diseases, laboratory testing and diagnosis, and logistics,
together with an official from the Japanese Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, totaling 17 members. By providing
technical assistance, the team facilitated the resumption of
the IgM test for yellow fever, which had been suspended
because the necessary reagents had been exhausted at
the DRC National Reference Laboratory. Consequently,
the surveillance of yellow fever was strengthened and
the number of confirmed cases was updated regularly.
The team also supported the reactive vaccination
campaign with technical assistance, and joined the DRC
Ministry of Health in recommending that a further mass
vaccination campaign be implemented to include about
10 million people in Kinshasa in the middle of August
2016. The recommendations made were (1) to
implement an effective communication strategy on the mass
© 2016 The Author(s). Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
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vaccination campaign through the media and public
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