WHO

The WHO Acute Respiratory Infections Programme was concerned with communicable diseases and their impact on public health, particularly in developing countries, where illnesses such as ARIs were responsible for high death rates. The programme investigated cases of high mortality, and developed recommendations and plans on a local and national scale.

The Acute Respiratory Infections Programme was later integrated with the Control of Diarrhoeal Diseases to form the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness. The programme aimed to address the problems of infectious diseases, and train and resource health workers locally to control and manage epidemics.

WHO held regular meetings to consider measures to combat high death rates caused by communicable diseases in developing countries. These meetings and workshops, which often ran over a few days, brought together leading scientists from around the world to identify and study viruses, often focusing on cases of epidemics in rural villages, urban slums, and similar environments. The ultimate aim was to identify the causes of infections and epidemics, in order to manage and reduce the risk of illnesses, and bring down the high death rate.

A global survey was conducted, in which members of WHO workshops and committees undertook epidemiological studies, observing cases of infection in selected regions. Tyrrell was a member of the groups which met in Rio de Janeiro, Nairobi, and Beijing between 1979-1981 to plan and undertake studies in the local communities. As a result of these meetings, recommendations for diagnosis, management, and treatment were drawn up. The first paper on the worldwide surveys, "Viral respiratory diseases", outlined the current situation in Rio, Nairobi and Beijing, as observed during the surveys.

1953-2000

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For papers of the CCU WHO virus disease reference laboratory, refer to PP/TYR/A/10.