The World Health Organization (WHO) in collaboration with the Ministry of Health (MoH) and National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL) has ended a week-long training for the implementation of sentinel surveillance of influenza in Liberia. The workshop aimed at enabling participants to describe the virology and epidemiology of influenza virus; outline steps for setting up a national or locality-specific influenza sentinel surveillance system; develop work plans for implementation of sentinel surveillance for influenza, among others. The hosting of this workshop is in line with the recently developed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) on influenza surveillance by the WHO- Regional Office for Africa (AFRO).
Influenza viruses have become one of the major concerns globally, especially in Africa where it is a major cause of mortality particularly among children aged 6–59 months, the elderly, individuals with specific chronic medical conditions such as HIV/AIDS, asthma,  chronic heart or lung diseases, and health-care workers. It is often characterized by fever, headache, myalgia, sore throat and cough and transmitted through respiratory droplets or contact. 
 Dr. Nuha Mahmoud, World Health Emergency Coordinator, WHO-Liberia, speaking at the opening program said that it is important for Liberia to join the network of influenza surveillance system to implement sentinel surveillance for influenza in Liberia, this being a post-Ebola country.  Dr. Mahmoud further said that Liberia being a part of the network would enable the country to implement protocols and SOPs as they relate to addressing influenza in Liberia. She, therefore, called on the participants to make use of the knowledge and skills that will be acquired from the training. 
Also speaking at the opening program, Dr. Mosoka Fallah, Deputy Director General at NPHIL said that influenza cases are difficult to be recognized thus affecting effective treatment. He stressed that, when Liberia joins the network, it would allow the country to identify influenza cases and thereby adequately address them. He, therefore, admonished the participants to take the workshop very seriously to ensure that the situation of influenza in Liberia is fully addressed. 
In attendance were over 50 participants from the MoH, NPHIL, Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), Forestry Development Authority (FDA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), CDC and WHO. The workshop was facilitated by a team of experts from AFRO composed of an epidemiologist, virologist, and a data manager using the recently developed training materials by AFRO.