The WHO South-East Asia Regional Office (SEARO) on March 30 hosted Exercise SAPHIRE (South-East Asia Regional Practice of All Hazard IHR Event Communication). The exercise with 11 countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, *DPR Korea, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Timor-Leste practised reporting public health events following International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005).

The simulation used an emerging Nipah-like zoonotic disease scenario to test communication between national IHR Focal Points and the World Health Organization (WHO). The half-a-day exercise:

• Validated contact details for IHR Focal Points
• Assessed a public health event using Annex 2 of IHR (to help national authorities to use the decision instrument in assessing public health events that may require notification to WHO)
• Improved understanding of the roles of National IHR Focal Points and IHR reporting requirements
• Identified areas for improvement of the IHR reporting system in the WHO South-East Asia Region

For additional information on simulation exercises, please visit: https://www.who.int/emergencies/operations/simulation-exercises