The International Association of National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI)1 links and strengthens national public health agencies by leveraging the experience and expertise of its member institutes to build robust public health systems. It is a vehicle for improving global health security (GHS) through partnership and peer-to-peer support in its network of 109 members.
Climate change is one of the greatest global health threats of the 21st century.
Laboratories are a fundamental part of health systems, essential for the detection, diagnosis, treatment and control of diseases. A national laboratory system is one of the technical areas that should be assessed and strengthened for implementation of the International Health Regulations (2005). Reliable laboratory services continue, however, to be rare in many low- and middle-income countries.
The South-East Asia Region has a high burden of outbreaks and emerging and re-emerging diseases. Some recent outbreaks included those of avian influenza A (H5N1), A (H9N2), influenza A (H1N1)pdm09, Zika virus disease, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, Nipah virus disease and Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever. The International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR), which came into force on 15 June 2007 as an obligation
All Member States have been implementing the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) since they came into force, and an average of 70% have reported their implementation status to the World Health Assembly every year, with improvement since 2017. Until 2017, countries used IHR monitoring questionnaires to report their status; since 2018, they have used the revised State Party Annual Reporting (SPAR). This tool was revised according to the recommendations of the IHR review committee to simplify annual reporting and to add other monitoring and evaluation instruments.
Countries develop and maintain capacities across sectors to prevent, detect and respond to public health emergencies. Systematic assessments of country-level health emergency preparedness provide powerful insight into the critical gaps and priorities of a country and can guide crucial policy and strategic decisions, including how strategies and activities are developed, costed and financed, and which interventions can best lead to impact in the short-term. Data-driven analysis is further complemented by case studies which illustrate how these activities were implemented within a setting.
Many countries have implemented measures to mitigate health emergencies, either at national or subnational (including community/local) levels that are adapted to their local context and need. These experiences can be shared with others across the world as they may be useful evidence in developing or refining local preparedness, readiness and response plans. To support the identification, documentation and dissemination of best practices and lessons learned, the EHS unit supports WHO country and regional offices and Member States to publish case studies on this webpage. Please reach out via ehs@who.int if we can provide support.
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