One Health Elements

What is One Health?

There is no one single definition for “One Health” used by everyone worldwide. In general, the term refers to taking a multisectoral, multi-disciplinary approach and ensuring communication, collaboration, and coordination among all relevant ministries, agencies, stakeholders, sectors, and disciplines, for optimal action.

IHR Monitoring and Evaluation Framework

IHR Monitoring and Evaluation Framework


IHR MEF

The IHR Monitoring and Evaluation Framework provides an overview of approaches to review implementation of country core public health capacities under the IHR (2005). The Framework ensures the mutual accountability of States Parties and the Secretariat for global public health security through transparent reporting and dialogue.

IHR

Under the International Health Regulations(IHR) 2005 all States Parties are required to have or develop and maintain minimum core public health capacities to implement the IHR (2005), and report the status of implementation annually, as stipulated in Article 54 of the Regulations.

The formal submission of data from State Parties to the WHO via the IHR annual reports is very important and will be used as the basis for:

  • reporting to the World Health Assembly, on the status of implementation of these Regulations;
  • informing the GPW 13 indicator on emergency preparedness; and
  • informing UN SDG Goal 3 for indicator 3.d.1 – International Health Regulations (IHR) capacity and health emergency preparedness.

Detailed information on 2019 and previous years up to 2010 of the IHR annual reporting by State Parties are primarily published and available on e-SPAR platform and also at the WHO Global Health Observatory website

The Joint External Evaluation (JEE) is part of the IHR Monitoring and Evaluation Framework and is a voluntary, multi-sectoral process to assess country capacity to prevent, detect, and rapidly respond to public health risks. The JEE allows countries to identify the most urgent needs within their health security system; to prioritize opportunities for enhanced preparedness, detection and response capacity, including setting national priorities; and to allocate resources based on the findings.

An After Action Review (AAR) is a qualitative review of actions taken to respond to an event as a means of identifying best practices, lessons and gaps in a country’s public health emergency preparedness and response capacity as part of a process of continual improvement and collective learning. Key stakeholders such as responders and decision-makers have the opportunity to reflect on what happened during the response, and share experiences to critically and systematically review what was in place before the response, what happened during the response, what went well and less well, why events occurred as they did, and how to institutionalize best practices and improve on gaps observed. Ultimately, the goal of the AAR is for individual and collective learning to be better prepared for the next public health event or emergency. AARs are conducted through the different formats of the AAR: Debrief AAR; Working group AAR; Key informant interview AAR; and Mixed-method AAR. For more information, please go to the official AAR WHO webpage.

A simulation exercise is a form of practice, training, monitoring or evaluation of capabilities, involving the description or simulation of an emergency to which a described or simulated response is made. Simulation exercises can develop and assess preparedness and response plans, procedures and systems for all hazards and capabilities. WHO defines different types of exercises, including discussion-based table top exercises as well as operations-based exercises such as drills, functional exercises and field/full scale exercises. Specifically, simulation exercises aim to:   

  1. Assess plans and procedures, operational guidelines and standard operating procedures;

  2. Assess interoperability between these plans and procedures;  

  3. Reveal planning weaknesses and resource gaps  

  4. Improve coordination and collaboration;  

  1. Clarify roles and responsibilities;  

  1. Practice and clarify chain of command;  

  1. Develop knowledge and skills for emergency response;  

  1. Familiarize staff with new functions and equipment 

  1. Gain recognition and trust in the emergency management processes. 

NOTE:  

Intra-Action Review 
In light of the protracted and unpredictable nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, countries may wish to conduct periodic reviews during the event so they can continue to reflect on the ongoing response and revise national and subnational response strategies and plans as needed to change the trajectory of the epidemic. WHO, having recognized this need, developed the Guidance for conducting a Country COVID-19 intra-action review (IAR) and accompanying tools. A Country COVID-19 Intra-Action Review (IAR) is a country-led facilitated process that allows stakeholders of the ongoing COVID-19 response to review the functional capacities of public health and emergency response systems at the national or subnational levels to identify best practices, gaps and lessons learned, and propose corrective measures and actions for immediate remediation or sustained improvement of the COVID-19 outbreak response. Although not an official component of the IHRMEF, intra-action reviews have been issued as one of the temporary recommendations to State Parties during the fourth meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005) Emergency Committee regarding the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) convened by the WHO Director-General on 31 July 2020. Moving forward, there is also the opportunity to use intra-action reviews for other protracted public health events beyond COVID-19. 

IHRMEF Elements

IHR MEF

The IHR Monitoring and Evaluation Framework provides an overview of approaches to review implementation of country core public health capacities under the IHR (2005). The Framework ensures the mutual accountability of States Parties and the Secretariat for global public health security through transparent reporting and dialogue.

GLLP: Global Laboratory Leadership Programme

GLLP: Global Laboratory Leadership Programme


To help ensure that laboratories can effectively play a critical role in the prevention, detection, and control of diseases, current and emerging laboratory leaders worldwide need specialized training in leadership and management.

Leading organizations partnered to develop the Global Laboratory Leadership Programme (GLLP) targeting human and animal health laboratories, as well as laboratories with public health impact (environmental, agricultural, food, or chemical laboratories). The partners are:

The six partners enlisted the expertise of over 140 global experts in human and animal health and laboratory science for the development of the GLLP. The partners are committed to the programme’s vision of laboratory leaders empowering national laboratory systems across the globe using a One Health approach to strengthen health security.

Laboratory Leadership Competency Framework

International experts agree that laboratory leaders need certain core competencies to meet national, regional, and global disease prevention and control objectives. The GLLP encapsulates the following nine core competencies outlined in the Laboratory Leadership Competency Framework :

  • Laboratory System
  • Disease Surveillance and Outbreak Investigation
  • Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Recovery
  • Biosafety and Biosecurity
  • Leadership
  • Management
  • Communication
  • Quality Management System
  • Research

The Framework is available in English, French, Russian, Spanish and Portuguese.

GLLP Learning Package

GLLP Leadership The programme, available for virtual or in-person implementation, is flexible in length, format, and content and may be adapted to meet country-specific workforce needs. The GLLP Learning Package provides the materials necessary to implement programmes in any country or educational institution in the world and includes:

  • GLLP Planning and Implementation Guide
  • GLLP Mentorship Guide
  • Virtual and in-person course materials including PowerPoint presentations and instructor and participant guides

The GLLP course materials include four sections (Introduction, Laboratory Management, Laboratory Leadership, and Laboratory Systems) comprising 13 units and 43 modules, with over 200 contact hours' worth of materials, all with a strong One Health focus.

Simex Overview

A simulation exercise (SimEx) can help develop, assess and test functional capabilities of emergency systems, procedures and mechanisms to be able to respond to outbreaks or public health emergencies.

The video will explains in 4 minutes the SimEx practice as promoted by WHO, including the definition, the different types of SimEx (table top exercise, drill, functional exercise and field/full scale exercise) and available resources.

Simulation Exercise-old

Simulation Exercise

Last updated on 26 May 2025
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SimEx Activities
Region Country Activity dates Status Report Minimum Report
African Region Côte d'Ivoire 03 Feb 2016 to 05 Feb 2016 Conducted
African Region Togo 10 Feb 2016 Conducted
Western Pacific Region Lao People's Democratic Republic 22 Mar 2016 to 24 Mar 2016 Conducted
African Region Burkina Faso 06 May 2016 Conducted
African Region Guinea-Bissau 01 May 2016 Conducted
African Region Democratic Republic Of The Congo 05 May 2016 Conducted
African Region Chad 12 May 2016 Conducted
African Region Central African Republic 12 May 2016 Conducted
Western Pacific Region Mongolia 30 Jun 2016 Conducted
South-East Asia Region Indonesia 27 Jun 2016 to 29 Jun 2016 Conducted

A simulation exercise (SimEx) can help develop, assess and test functional capabilities of emergency systems, procedures and mechanisms to be able to respond to outbreaks or public health emergencies.

The video will explains in 4 minutes the SimEx practice as promoted by WHO, including the definition, the different types of SimEx (table top exercise, drill, functional exercise and field/full scale exercise) and available resources.

Simulation exercise types

Generally, there are four fundamental types of exercises that can be split in two categories:

Discussion-based exercises:

Table Top exercises (TTX): A Table Top exercise is a facilitated discussion of an emergency situation, generally in an informal, low-stress environment. It is designed to elicit constructive participant discussion, to identify and resolve problems and refine existing operational plans. This is the only type of simulation exercise that does not require an existing response plan in place.

Operations-based exercises:

Drill (DR): A drill is a coordinated, supervised exercise activity, normally used to test or train a single specific operation or function in a repeated fashion. A drill aims to practice and perfect one small part of the response plan and should be as realistic as possible, employing any equipment or apparatus for the specific function.

Functional exercises (FX):

A functional exercise is a fully simulated interactive exercise that tests the capability of an organization to respond to a simulated event. The exercise tests multiple functions of the organization’s operational plan. It is a coordinated response to a situation in a time pressured, realistic situation. A functional exercise focuses on the coordination, integration, and interaction of an organization’s policies, procedures, roles and responsibilities before, during, or after the simulated event.

Full-scale/field exercises (FSX):

A full-scale exercise simulates a real event as closely as possible and is designed to evaluate the operational capability of emergency management systems in a highly stressful environment, simulating actual response conditions. This includes the mobilization and movement of emergency personnel, equipment and resources. Ideally, the full-scale exercise should test and evaluate most functions of the emergency management plan or operational plan. Differing from the FX, a full-scale exercise typically involves multiple agencies and participants physically deployed in an exercise field location.

Field exercises: See full-scale exercise.

A field exercise is one form of full-scale exercise, focusing on more specific capacities or series of capacities, such as procedures for Rapid Response Teams (RRT), laboratory analysis or other sample collection and transport.

Exercises are not one-time events, but should be undertaken as part of a carefully designed exercise program which ensures a common strategic objective is addressed. A comprehensive exercise program is made up of progressively complex exercises, which build upon the previous, until they are as close to reality as possible. This ‘building-block approach’ should start with basic exercises that test specific aspects of preparedness and response, followed by progressively complex exercises requiring additional preparation time and resources.

 

The purpose of this module is to introduce students to the terminology, concepts and principles of simulation exercise management in line with the WHO Simulation Exercise Management Manual.

On completion of this online course, you should be able to:

  1. Explain the benefits of simulation exercises as used in the public health domain.
  2. Demonstrate a general knowledge of the terminology, concepts and principles described in the WHO Exercise Manual (2017).
  3. Describe the different phases of the exercise project cycle (planning, conduct and post-exercise).
  4. Select the type of exercise appropriate for a specific purpose and objectives.

Expected audience: IHR NFPs, WHO staff, Health professionals and partners, any person interested in public health simulation exercises.

Please note that an audio is available for this course.

International Health Regulation (2005)…
International Health Regulation (2005)…
International Health Regulation (2005)…
International Health Regulation (2005)…
International Health Regulation (2005)…
Risk Communications
Travel Restrictions
Quarantine
National Response Issues
Operations Video 1
Operations Video 2
International Response
Health Service Strain
Emergency Alert Broadcast
Emergency Declaration
Economics of PHE
Country Background
Generic Communicable Video
Simulation Exercise - Country…
Cholera Variant 3
Cholera 2
Cholera 1
Tsunami
Mass Gathering - Plague 2
Mass Gathering - Plague 1
Industrial Accident Rail Car 2
Industrial Accident - Rail Car
Earthquake 3
Earthquake 2
Earthquake 1
Cyclone
Civil Conflict 3
Civil Conflict 2
Civil Conflict 1
Nuclear Accident 3
Nuclear Accident 2
Nuclear Accident
Listeriosis M. Outbreak RU Subtitles
Listeriosis M. Outbreak EN Subtitles
Cat Flu Zoonotic Outbreak Video Three
Cat Flu Zoonotic Outbreak Video Two
Cat Flu Zoonotic Outbreak Video One
SimEx - Industrial Accident, 2nd Inject
SimEx - Deliberate pathogen release V1
SimEx - Deliberate pathogen release V2
SimEx - Deliberate pathogen release V3
SimEx - Environmental Disaster…
SimEx - Natural Disaster, Flood,…
SimEx - Natural Disaster, Flood,…
SimEx - Natural Disaster, Flood,…
SimEx - Industrial Accident, 1st Inject
SimEx Implementation 
SimEX Covid-19 
SimEx by IHR (2005) Core Capacities 

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