The Government of Indonesia, with the support of WHO, organized the first global meeting on “The Managing Future Global Health Risk by Strengthening Civilian and Military Health Services”, in Jakarta on 24- 26 October 2017. The meeting brought together over 160 public health and military representatives from 44 countries, International Organizations, partners and donors. In line with G20 commitments to strengthen global health security and accelerate the implementation of the IHR, and as current Chair of the International Committee of Military Medicine (ICMM), Indonesia convened the meeting with the aim of identifying a shared vision between the two sectors on global, regional and national health security.

Through a live voting system and multiple choice questions a discussion based table top exercise took place during the meeting, where areas for collaboration were discussed between the public health sector and the military health services. The exercise used a simulated fictitious country, using two different scenario`s, including a natural- and a deliberate scenario. The exercise found that there are many areas for collaboration between the public health sector and the military health services to jointly prepare for and respond to public health emergencies. It is clear however, that there is no one-size fits all approach to strengthening collaboration between military and civilian health services, but it is possible to agree on a shared vision to guide these efforts. The main meeting outcome was a call for action, which will help Member States to develop tailored priority actions to strengthen collaboration between sectors to prevent, detect, and respond to future public health emergencies of national and international concern. These actions will feed into National Action Plans for Health Security to accelerate the implementation of the IHR (2005).

Please watch the summary of the event, including the simulation exercise through this link.