Mr. Kunta Wibawa Dasa Nugraha, S.E., M.A.,Ph.

D
Secretary General
In reply please Ministry of Health
refer to: 454 / G2/48/1 Republic of Indonesia
Your reference:

Jakarta, 24 June 2022

Subject: Regional Meeting to Strengthen National Plans for Surveillance and Prevention
of Birth Defects and stillbirths towards Accelerating Reduction in Newborn
Mortality (face-to-face), 22-24 August 2022, Kathmandu, Nepal

Dear Mr. Kunta Wibawa,

We are enclosing a letter from SEARO number M3/48/65 dated 14 June 2022 on the above subject
for your facilitation in nominating four (4) officials as per criteria below:
• Two MoH programme managers - one from newborn/child health and one from maternal
health who are responsible for birth defects and stillbirth surveillance, prevention and
management, respectively.
• Two experts in-charge of the national birth defects surveillance, prevention and management,
and/or national data system or DHIS2.
For further coordination, your staff may contact Ms Edit Oktavia Manuama (manuamae@who.int)
and Ms. Diyah Herawati (herawatid@who.int) for technical and administrative matters, respectively.
Thank you for your continuous collaboration.

Yours sincerely,

for Dr N. Paranietharan
WHO Representative

Encl. as stated
cc: Directorate General of Public Health, MoH RI
Acting Director General of Health Development Policy Agency, MoH, RI
Secretary, Directorate General of Public Health, MoH RI
Directorate of Nutrition and Maternal and Child Health, MoH RI
Director, Center for Global Health & Health Technology Policy, MoH RI
UHC/FHL, WHO Indonesia

5TH FLOOR, GAMA TOWER, JL HR RASUNA SAID KAV. C-22 JAKARTA 12940 INDONESIA , TELEPHONE +62-21-5204349– FAX +62-21-5201164–WWW.SEARO.WHO.INT/INDONESIA
OFFICE ADDRESS:
PERMANENT: WORLD HEALTH HOUSE, INDRAPRASTHA ESTATE, MAHATMA GANDHI ROAD, NEW DELHI-110 002, INDIA, WWW.SEARO.WHO.INT
TEMPORARY: METROPOLITAN HOTEL OFFICE BLOCK, BANGLA SAHIB ROAD, GOLE MARKET, SECTOR 4, NEW DELHI-110 001, INDIA
ANNEX – RED FORT CAPITAL PARSVNATH TOWER 1, BHAI VIR SINGH MARG, GOLE MARKET, SECTOR 4, NEW DELHI-110 001, INDIA
TEL: 91-11-4304 0200 /0161, FAX: 91-11-2336 8355

The Ministry of Health

Republic of Indonesia
Jalan H. Rasuna Said Kav. X5 No. 04-09
Jakarta 12950, Indonesia
In reply please refer to:
(Attn: Secretary-General)
M3/48/65

14 June 2022

Dear Sir/Madam,

Subject: Regional Meeting to Strengthen National Plans for Surveillance and Prevention of
Birth Defects and stillbirths towards Accelerating Reduction in Newborn Mortality
(face-to-face), 22-24 August 2022, Kathmandu, Nepal

We are pleased to inform you that WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia (SEARO) is
organizing a Regional Meeting to Strengthen National Plans for Surveillance and Prevention of Birth
Defects and stillbirths towards Accelerating Reduction in Newborn Mortality (face-to-face) from 22 to
24 August 2022, Kathmandu, Nepal.

The general objective of the meeting is to strengthen national implementation of integrated

newborn birth defects and stillbirths’ surveillance, prevention and management strategies contributing
to reduction in perinatal and newborn mortality. The specific objectives are to:

1. review the progress on surveillance, prevention, and management of birth defects

2. discuss and review progress in implementation of TAG recommendations on stillbirth
surveillance and preventive strategies.
3. provide recent technical updates on global birth defects toolkit and WHO
recommendations on universal newborn screening.
4. obtain inputs from the Member States for renewal of the Regional Strategy on birth
defects and the update of the regional package for training in birth defects surveillance.
5. identify priority actions for improving the implementation of national birth defects and
stillbirth prevention action plan.

A concept note of the meeting is enclosed for your kind information.

Contd…2

cc: The Acting Director, Global Health and Health Technology Policy, Ministry of Health, Republic of
Indonesia, Jalan Percetakan Negara 29, Jakarta 10560, Indonesia
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Indonesia, Director General for Multilateral
Cooperation, Jalan Pejambon 6-8, Jakarta Pusat, Indonesia
Head of Bureau for Foreign Technical Cooperation, Ministry of State Secretariat; Republic of
Indonesia, JI Veteran II no 9, Jakarta, Indonesia
The WHO Representative, Jakarta, Indonesia
The Ministry of Health Page 2
Republic of Indonesia
Jalan H. Rasuna Said Kav. X5 No. 04-09
Jakarta 12950, Indonesia
(Attn: Secretary-General)

Ref: M3/48/65 14 June 2022

We would like to request you to kindly nominate four officials as per the criteria below:

• Two MoH programme managers - one from newborn/child health and one from
maternal health who are responsible for birth defects and stillbirth surveillance,
prevention and management, respectively.
• Two experts in-charge of the national birth defects surveillance, prevention and
management, and/or national data system or DHIS2.

WHO will bear the cost of travel of the participants from the place of duty to Kathmandu and
back. In addition, the participants will be paid a daily subsistence allowance as per WHO rules
prevailing at the time of the meeting, throughout the period of his/her attendance and for the time
spent on travel except for the day of arrival in the duty station travelling by the most direct and
cheapest airfare – excursion fare tickets, if available, or by economy class.

We would appreciate receiving the nominations along with their details (name, position, mobile
no. and email) latest by 15 July 2022, to enable us to timely complete the travel arrangements and
administrative formalities. Nominations may be sent by email to Dr Jayathilaka C Anoma, Medical
Officer, Maternal and Reproductive Health (jayathilakac@who.int) with a copy to Ms Pooja Verma
(vermap@who.int). Upon receiving the information, we shall contact the nominated officials with
detailed information of the meeting.

Thank you for your support.

Yours faithfully,

Dr Neena Raina
Director a.i.
Department of UHC/ Family Health (FGL)
for Regional Director
 8 June 2022 Version 1.0

Regional Meeting to Strengthen National Plans for

Surveillance and Prevention of Birth Defects and Stillbirths
towards Accelerating Reduction in Newborn Mortality
Kathmandu, Nepal, 22-24 August 2022

CONCEPT NOTE

Background
In 2017, birth defects were the fourth most common cause of neonatal mortality, constituting 12% of all
neonatal deaths. Birth defects accounted for more than 117 000 deaths in the South-East Asia Region –
around 22% of the global newborn deaths which was more than 530 000 newborn deaths. In addition to
mortality, birth defects can cause long term morbidity and disability, which in low- and middle-income
countries, can strain health system, social and family resources.

Since the adoption of the World Health Assembly Resolution WHA 63.17, the WHO Regional Office for
South-East Asia (WHO-SEARO) has identified actions to address birth defects to reduce stillbirths and
neonatal mortality. WHO-SEARO has collaborated with the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention
(US-CDC) and implemented a regional initiative for prevention and control of birth defects. The Regional
Strategic Framework of prevention and control of birth defects was published in 2013 following which
Member States have prepared national birth defects plans. All Member States have introduced rubella
containing vaccine among girls to eliminate congenital rubella syndrome, and coverage of about 87% has
been achieved in the region in 2020. Several Member States have supplementation programmes and
foods fortification initiatives to provide folic acid and vitamin B12 that help prevent occurrence of neural
tube defects. Countries have also planned to strengthen the diagnostic as well as management and long-
term care within national health programmes.

Member States have requested support from CAH-SEARO to support the renewal of their national action
plans for surveillance and prevention of birth defects. CAH-SEARO could not organize the regional review
meetings in 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic. We continued to do brief virtual meetings for
problem solving and sustaining the good quality surveillance. A detailed review of progress is overdue.
The aim of this meeting is to review the regional status and consult the Member States to renew the
regional strategy and subsequently support them to renew their national plans, as has been done in the
past.

Page 1 of 3
Objectives
General
To strengthen national implementation of integrated newborn birth defects and stillbirths’ surveillance,
prevention and management strategies contributing to reduction in perinatal and newborn mortality.

Specific
The specific objectives are:
• To review the progress on surveillance, prevention, and management of birth defects
• To discuss and review progress in implementation of TAG recommendations on stillbirth
surveillance and preventive strategies
• To provide recent technical updates on global birth defects toolkit and WHO recommendations
on universal newborn screening.
• To obtain inputs from the Member States for renewal of the Regional Strategy on birth defects
and the update of the regional package for training in birth defects surveillance.
• To identify priority actions for improving the implementation of national birth defects and
stillbirth prevention action plan.

Participants
The participants would comprise MOH programme managers responsible for newborn-child and maternal
health, national birth defects surveillance and/or national data system or DHIS2 managers from six focus
countries, professional associations of paediatrics/OBGY from six focus countries, representatives from
related organizations like CDC Atlanta, Early Childhood Development Action Network (ECDAN), ICDBSR,
March of Dimes, and partners like UNICEF ROSA and EAPRO, and WHO staff from country offices, SEARO
and HQ.

Programme (tentative)
Day 1: 22 August 2022
• Inaugural address by the FGL, Director a.i., SEARO
• Address by the Regional TAG chair/TAG member from Nepal
• Situation analysis of birth defect prevention, surveillance, and management in SEAR
• Situation analysis of stillbirth prevention, surveillance, and management in SEAR
• Global and Regional updates related to birth defects:
• Revised WHO-CDC guidance on birth defects
• Recent WHO recommendations on universal newborn screening for eye abnormalities, hearing
deficits, and jaundice which can lead to neurological impairment.
• ICDDRB meeting in 2023
• Revised regional training package for birth defects surveillance, and simplified protocols for early
detection, management, follow-up, and prevention of common structural birth defects and
genetic counselling
• Panel discussion on implications and implementation of updated guidance in the Region

Day 2: 23 August 2022

• Recap of day 1
• Regional progress in Birth Defects and Stillbirths Initiative (NBBD)
• Incorporating the learnings from NBBD in national programs: Way forward
• Country presentations on progress in prevention, surveillance, and management of birth defects
and stillbirth among countries

Page 2 of 3
 • Group work on country needs and actions to strengthen birth defects and stillbirth prevention,
surveillance, and management in SEAR, including implementation of new WHO recommendations
on universal newborn screening

Day 3: 24 August 2022

• Country presentations from group work and country action plans followed by discussion
• Conclusion and recommendations

*********************

Page 3 of 3