The IHR Monitoring and Evaluation Framework data contribute to the impact measure of “1 billion more people better protected from health emergencies,” in the WHO 13th General Programme of Work (GPW). The measure seeks to monitor and assess the impact of WHO and Member States to build and sustain national, regional and global capacities required to keep the world safe from epidemics and other health emergencies, and ensure that populations affected by acute and protracted emergencies have rapid access to essential life-saving health services including health promotion and disease prevention.

On June 21‒22, the Expert Reference Group (ERG) Task Force meeting was convened in Seattle, USA, to discuss the implementation of the impact framework outlined in the WHO 13th General Programme of Work (GPW13). The GPW13 Metric Expert Reference Group Task Force members included policymakers, economists, and researchers.

The preliminary metric was received well by the working group, who identified that further work is needed to determine how to use other data sources to measure “1 billion more people better protected,” and provide countries guidance and tools to continue to make progress on preparedness for health emergencies.