Almost 300 people participated in the cross border FSX, the majority from the EAC Partner States Kenya and Tanzania. In addition, representatives from the EAC Secretariat, EAC Partner States Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda, as well as Southern African States of Lesothos, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia, participated in the FSX.

PURPOSE, SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES

Purpose of the Exercise

The purpose of the Cross-Border Field Simulation Exercise was to assess and further enhance multi-sectorial outbreak preparedness and response in the EAC region under a One Health approach.

Specifically, the exercise was designed to:

1. Test the regional and national contingency plans and standard operating procedures (SOPs).
2. Familiarize participants with the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders from different sectors and backgrounds involved in preparedness, mitigation and response to a regional public health emergency.
3. Assess and identify strengths and weaknesses in coordination and collaboration mechanisms, emergency response deployment, logistics and administrative processes, risk and crisis communication (RCC) as well as emergency management and leadership

Exercise Scope

The FSX was partly an operations-based, functional exercise and partly a series of exercise drills, conducted in a setting as realistic as possible while safe for all participants, observers and the general public. It included the deployment of resources, both human and material, required for coordination and response to a public health emergency. The scope was complex, encompassing coordination among regional, national and sub-national levels of government, including the EAC Secretariat and district/sub-county, regional/county and national level Public Health Emergency Operations Centres (PHEOC). As part of capacity building, the exercise was also designed to train national SG and EMG members in exercise design, planning and implementation, as facilitators, evaluators or liaison/safety officers.

The FSX was not only intended to identify achievements and challenges in preparedness and response for a public health event affecting the East African Community but also, by exposing participants to a realistic scenario, to practise them in the roles they would carry out in a real emergency.

Exercise Objectives

The objectives of the exercise were to:

1. assess the use of early warning and event detection mechanisms at points of entry with emphasis on the Namanga border area between Kenya and Tanzania;
2. assess coordination mechanisms, command and control systems and information sharing channels between multiple sectors and countries; (e.g. activation of the EAC emergency structure, incident management systems (IMS) and PHEOCs);
3. assess the deployment of rapid response teams (RRT);
4. validate the activation and deployment of selected mobile laboratories;
5. assess animal and human cases investigation and management and functionality of selected veterinary and health facilities in the border area during a large-scale outbreak of a RVF-like virus;
6. practise regional SOPs for pandemic preparedness and risk & crisis communication including community engagement;
7. evaluate selected preparedness and response measures at the Nairobi International Airport (NBO) and Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO); and
8. capture best practises and ensure transfer of lessons learned to the EAC community and other regional economic communities and African regions.