Overview and Assessment of Communicable Disease Surveillance Systems and Strategic Information Sources in the South-East Asia Region: Bhutan Country Report, 2023

Overview

This assessment was undertaken as part of a broader WHO South-East (SE) Asia regional initiative to strengthen communicable disease surveillance and trategic information systems. The overarching aim is to inform the development of a regional framework that supports integrated, indicator-based surveillance and effective public health response across Member States.

For Bhutan, the assessment set out to systematically review and map the country’s existing communicable disease surveillance systems, focusing on their structure, performance, and alignment with international standards. The evaluation specifically covered surveillance for a range of high-priority diseases – including tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B and C, syphilis, gonorrhoea, dengue, chikungunya, leishmaniasis, leprosy, lymphatic filariasis, malaria, cholera, enteric fever, leptospirosis and scrub typhus – as well as the broader legal, policy, and operational environment in which these systems function.

The purpose was not only to document the current landscape and identify key gaps, but also to generate actionable recommendations that will help Bhutan and the Region move towards more harmonized, resilient and responsive surveillance – ultimately supporting disease elimination and improved health security.