No country was fully prepared to deal with a pandemic of such scale, speed, severity and impact as COVID-19. With the purpose to “build mutual trust and accountability for health, by bringing nations together as neighbours and to support a whole-of-government approach to pandemic preparedness”, WHO’s Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced the Universal Health and Preparedness Review (UHPR) mechanism in November 2020.

The UHPR is a Member State-driven intergovernmental consultative mechanism that aims to:

• Identify gaps in country preparedness through an inclusive, all of government and whole-of-society based approach
• Develop cooperative platform building mutual trust, accountability to better respond to future pandemics
• Promote peer-to-peer support and learning among member states, and promote sustainable financing to implementation of recommendations

The first UHPR pilot, facilitated by a three level WHO mission, was conducted from 4-14 December 2021 in the Central African Republic. The mission involved high-level engagement with several senior representatives across government sectors, members of Parliament, heads of UN agencies, and representatives of civil society, private sector and community leaders. A simulation exercise and site visits were conducted as part of the review of national capacities. The pilot aimed to garner and document best practices and identify key gaps in national preparedness.

On 27 January, WHO hosted a Mission Briefing session during the WHO Executive Board meeting to provide Member States with an update on the outcomes of the first UHPR pilot. The Mission Briefing was attended by WHO Director Genera Dr Tedros and WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti. A video message was provided by His Excellency Professor Touadéra, President of the Central African Republic. His Excellency Dr Pierre Somsé, Minister of Health delivered a presentation to Member States. The session was chaired by Dr Stella Chungong, WHO Director for Health Security Preparedness.

Quotes

"We hope that by taking this first step, the Central African Republic can make a meaningful contribution to global preparedness and demonstrate our commitment to multilateral solutions for health security."
Dr Pierre Somsé, Minister of Health and Population

"One of the most important lessons from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it is that health is everyone’s business. We, therefore, need high-level political commitments, cross-sectoral mobilization, and whole-of-society approaches with full participation of the community. UHPR has the potential to be a game changer and we applaud the Central African Republic for testing the concept in a particularly challenging context."
Dr Ngoy Nsenga, WHO Representative