Experts from pediatrics, disease surveillance, public health, vaccination and health administration met in Lahore from 9-11 December 2025 for a Sentinel Sites Review organized by EPI Punjab with WHO support and participation from UNICEF. The three-day gathering brought together government health officials, hospital representatives and international partners to align surveillance and immunization efforts across the province.
Dr Abdul Jabbar, Director Health Services (EPI), and Professor Junaid Rasheed, Pro Vice Chancellor of the University of Child Health Sciences, underlined that disease surveillance and vaccination are interwoven, contributory and compulsory to each other, stressing coordinated action to detect and respond to emerging threats. Discussions emphasized how timely vaccination campaigns depend on accurate and rapid data from sentinel systems.
Sentinel Sites have been established at nine teaching hospitals across Punjab to generate epidemiological pointers and provide ongoing data on disease trends and potential outbreaks. Delegates reviewed how these sentinel sites collect and share information, and considered ways to standardize reporting so that trends can be detected earlier and responses can be scaled effectively.
Technical sessions and detailed analyses were led by WHO expert on disease surveillance Dr Mehroz Saleem, who facilitated reviews of surveillance methodologies, data interpretation and linkages to immunization planning. Participants examined how sentinel site outputs can feed provincial and national decision-making to prioritise resources and target vaccination efforts where they are most needed.
The review highlighted the role of sentinel sites in bridging clinical care and public health, providing actionable data that supports both outbreak detection and routine vaccine strategy. With WHO and UNICEF support, EPI Punjab aims to strengthen these sentinel networks so that hospitals, public health units and vaccination programmes work in close coordination to protect children and communities across the province.
