Together for science, together for health: WHO collaborating centres across the Western Pacific advance health outcomes

From pandemics and climate shocks to rapid demographic shifts, the World Health Organization (WHO) Western Pacific Region stands on the front lines of the world’s most pressing health challenges. Navigating this complex landscape demands more than just individual effort - it requires a unified, high-impact response grounded in science and underpinned by health as a human right.

WHO collaborating centres, or WHO CCs, exemplify how collaboration and partnerships can advance evidence-based approaches that enable better health outcomes for all.

The WHO Western Pacific Region, which currently covers 38 countries and areas, hosts over 190 of WHO’s 800+ CCs all over the world. These CCs possess deep expertise across surveillance, laboratories, public health training, health systems and disease‑specific fields.

All this week, WHO has been celebrating partnerships in science and health, first at the high-level One Health Summit in Lyon on World Health Day, 7 April, followed immediately thereafter by the WHO Collaborating Centres Forum. Here is a snapshot of how these essential collaborations are driving health priorities across the Western Pacific:

Strengthening response capacity to outbreaks of drug-resistant pathogens in hospitals

In collaboration with the University of Melbourne, WHO developed and published regional guidance on responding to outbreaks of antimicrobial-resistant pathogens in health-care facilities. This guidance is now being rolled out through a series of train-the-trainer capacity-building workshops across the Region conducted in partnership with the University of Melbourne and another WHO CC, the AMR Research Center at the Japan Institute for Health Security.

A group of people around a table in a workshop

Through collaborations with its CCs, WHO has thus far supported workshops in nine Western Pacific countries: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Fiji, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Philippines, Samoa and Viet Nam. Having recognized the importance of strengthening outbreak preparedness and response related to antimicrobial-resistant pathogens, Cambodia and Malaysia have made further concerted efforts to institutionalize capacity-building through sustained training for their health-care facility workforce, thus strengthening detection and response capacities.

Expanding capacities for pathogen genomic surveillance

Countries and WHO continuously monitor high-threat infectious diseases to detect outbreaks early and guide public health decisions - a responsibility accentuated all the more by the COVID-19 pandemic. The WHO CC for Surveillance, Research and Training of Emerging Infectious Diseases based at the Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention in China supports public health emergency monitoring using its surveillance platform. It does so through weekly reports that track infectious diseases, food and drug safety, mass illnesses and occupational poisoning.

To ensure more equitable access to public health technologies, WHO works with regional partners to improve laboratory systems and to accelerate adoption of innovative and sustainable diagnostic solutions.

Two WHO CCs for Reference and Research on Influenza and for Antimicrobial Resistance, both in Australia, played a key role in the establishment of a pathogen genomics laboratory in Fiji, and have supported genomic sequencing capacity-building efforts for laboratory workforce in eight priority countries.

In 2025, in response to the global mpox outbreak, these partnerships built emergency workforce capacities to detect high-threat pathogens, leverage innovative sequencing tools and approaches, and generate data-driven public health actions.

Another WHO CC for Reference and Research on Influenza based at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases within the Japan Institute for Health Security supports the development and testing of medical countermeasures such as vaccines and therapeutics that inform annual vaccine composition, thereby contributing to the effectiveness of medical countermeasures for highly infectious diseases.

These collaborations collectively enable WHO’s regional priority to address genomic surveillance−related health inequities and ensure that all Member States in the Region have timely access to genomic sequencing, with 70% achieving in-country sequencing capability by 2029.

Eliminating malaria and other endemic diseases in the Western Pacific

WHO in the Western Pacific leverages its CC network to advance malaria elimination goals in the Region. In partnership with the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) - a WHO CC for Malaria Diagnosis based in the Philippines - the Organization has strengthened national quality assurance of malaria diagnostic systems and laboratory evaluation. Under WHO leadership, RITM ensures the quality, sensitivity and reliability of malaria rapid diagnostic tests used across endemic settings.

This collaboration has advanced universal access to quality-assured malaria testing by standardizing how new and existing diagnostic tools are evaluated. A key achievement has been the development of a regional malaria slide bank - a unique repository of validated reference materials used for microscopy training and certification. Together, RITM and WHO have leveraged this regional asset to provide technical training across three WHO regions - Western Pacific, South-East Asia and Africa - building capacities among microscopists worldwide.

This partnership not only underpins accurate case detection and surveillance in the Western Pacific, it also strengthens country capacities to sustain laboratory services for malaria and dengue, supporting resilient health systems and long-term disease control and elimination efforts.

Accelerating the prevention, control and elimination of neglected tropical diseases

In partnership with the WHO CC for Vectorborne and Neglected Tropical Diseases based at the College of Medicine and Dentistry, James Cook University, in Queensland, Australia, WHO has supported efforts in the Pacific to eliminate lymphatic filariasis - a neglected tropical disease caused by parasitic worms transmitted through mosquito bites.

National lymphatic filariasis elimination programmes require reliable diagnostic tests to determine endemicity, monitor mass drug administration, guide transmission assessment surveys and detect resurgence.

Although the Filariasis Test Strip has been the recommended antigen test since 2015, there were opportunities to further enhance its performance to achieve its public health impact. The WHO CC at James Cook University evaluated the performance of SD Biosensor (another antigen test) against the Filariasis Test Strip and proved that the former had comparable or better accuracy, required less blood, and was easier to use. SD Biosensor was subsequently approved and included in lymphatic filariasis monitoring guidelines. These efforts have strongly supported lymphatic filariasis elimination efforts, particularly across the Pacific.

Mitigating the health impacts of climate change

Current trends in climate change are increasingly impacting human populations and are already proving to be a significant threat to public health. In partnership with its CC for Climate Change and Health Impact Assessment at Curtin University in Perth, Australia, WHO supports countries across the Western Pacific to better address the impacts of climate change - particularly those that are health-related - through a risk assessment lens.

The partnership advances country capacities to leverage Curtin University’s noted Health Impact Assessment framework to identify high-risk areas and inform evidence-based actions for adaptation and mitigation. As a result, countries across the Region have implemented findings from their respective health impact assessments and worked towards addressing health risks posed by climate change through a targeted, evidence-driven approach.

For example, in Australia, recommendations to mitigate climate-induced heatwave health impacts included the expansion of urban tree coverage and limits around black roofing materials. These recommendations have influenced local government planning and led to a ban on black roofs in at least one jurisdiction.

Together for health

These milestones - along with many others across the Western Pacific - are more than just technical achievements in health; they are a testament to what is possible through regional convergence around common health goals.

By uniting advancements in science with on-the-ground action, WHO and its CC network are doing more than just responding to today’s threats - they are building a resilient foundation for the future.

Through the continued convergence and alignment of regional expertise and resources, WHO and Western Pacific countries and areas are moving closer to becoming a Region where every community is protected, every system is prepared, and Health for All is no longer an aspiration, but a reality.