Emergencies & IHR (2005) in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

1. 1
Progress Report:
Emergencies & IHR (2005) in
the Eastern Mediterranean
Region
Dr. Rick Brennan
Regional Emergency Director

2. 2
Soaring emergency/humanitarian needs
It’s not just COVID-19
Outbreaks
• Globe: 200/year
• Region: 44 in 2022; 31 in 2021
Natural disasters
• Globe: 24% increase in 2021
• Region: 5 of 10 largest in 2021
Conflict
• Globe: 54 countries; 46% increase
in deaths
• Region: 9 countries
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Numbers needing humanitarian assistance (millions)
Region
86%
68%
Global

3. We are still not prepared
IHR core capacities necessary – not sufficient
3
72
66 66 67
64
40
45
50
55
60
65
70
75
80
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
IHR State Parties annual reporting: Regional average
Leadership &
Gov
58%
Finance
17%
Systems &
Tools
19%
Equity
6%
Recommendations of COVID-19 reviews

4. Strengthening emergency management
All hazards
Detection
Special focus on:
• Emerging infectious diseases
• IHR (2005) core capacities

5. Tackling emerging infectious diseases:
Building on the COVID-19 legacy
5
• Expanded laboratory capacity
‒ 22 Member States with PCR capacity;
2500+ labs
‒ 21 Member States with sequencing
capacity; 3 reference labs
• Rolled out integrated surveillance for
emerging respiratory viruses
• Strengthened outbreak investigation &
response
‒ Expanded rapid response team
capacities at national and subnational
levels

6. • Preparedness = worth the investment
‒ COVID-19: 14.9 million lives; US$ 12 trillion
• Progress across all hazards
‒ All-hazard risk profiling and planning:
15 Member States
‒ Revised and rolling out process for JEE and
NAPHS
‒ Public health emergency operations centres:
12 Member States
• Aligning with global initiatives – HEPR
‒ Universal Health and Preparedness Review
in Iraq
Strengthening all-hazards
preparedness & readiness
6

7. 7
Detecting events early
• 24/7 monitoring & detection capacity at Regional
Office: 10 000 signals, 25 new events, 21 RRA/PHSA
• Event-based surveillance – 12 Member States
Advancing public health intelligence
Addressing fragmentation of surveillance & incident
management
• Integrated disease surveillance and response
(IDSR) approach adopted by 22 Member States
• Communicating data through dashboards
Monitoring humanitarian response more effectively
• Collaboration with Johns Hopkins University in 5
pilot Member States

8. Leadership and coordination
• 280 daily updates for Ministers in 2020
Responding to COVID-19
8
Clinical care and O2 therapy
• > 50 000 clinical staff trained
• Oxygen platform
Vaccinations
• 46% fully vaccinated
• Intensification campaigns in fragile settings
Logistics and supply chain
• 1067 shipments to 135 countries

9. Responding to humanitarian crises
WHO – UNICEF partnership
• Humanitarian funding
• Rapid contracting of partners
• Support to 2331 health
facilities
9
Province
Health
facilities
visited
Health
facilities fully
functional
Health
facilities
partially
functional
Health
facilities
fully
functional
(%)
Baghlan 65 65 0 100%
Balkh 77 77 0 100%
Kabul 42 42 0 100%
Parwan 69 69 0 100%
Faryab 57 55 2 96%
Jawzjan 49 49 0 100%
Saripul 56 56 0 100%
Samangan 45 45 0 100%
Daikundi 54 54 0 100%
Bamyan 60 60 0 100%
Kunar 62 62 0 100%
Laghman 58 58 0 100%
Nangarhar 90 90 0 100%
Nooristan 36 36 0 100%
Takhar 68 68 0 100%
Logar 41 41 0 100%
Wardak 62 62 0 100%
Total 991 989 2 100%

10. 10
Responding to Humanitarian Crises
Advancing science and practice of
emergency management
• Developing emergency leaders
‒ Leadership programme on epidemic and
pandemic preparedness & response
‒ Ready4Response training – management &
leadership
‒ Public health in emergencies (JHU) – technical
• Publishing in academic journals
‒ 45 publications
• Producing technical guidance and regional strategies
‒ Emerging infectious diseases, IDSR, One Health

11. Applying the lessons learned from COVID-19:
Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Architecture (HEPR)
Leadership
o Global Health Emergency
Threats Council
o WHO Standing Committee for
Emergencies
Regulation
o Targeted amendments to IHR
Accountability
o Universal Health &
Preparedness Review
Capacity
o Strengthened alert & response teams 
interoperable & rapidly deployable
Coordination
o Standardized approaches for coordinating
strategy, financing, operations &
monitoring
Collaboration
o Expanded/strengthened partnerships &
networks for surveillance, community
protection, clinical care and access to
countermeasures
Predictable financing for preparedness – increased domestic investment & more effective/innovative international financing
Catalytic, gap-filling funding – expanded financing through a new Financial Intermediary Fund
Rapidly scalable financing for response – expanded WHO Contingency Fund for Emergencies
Equity
Inclusivity
Coherence
Pandemic Accord
11

12. 12
Summary
• Emergency risks and needs continue to soar
• Main gaps: leadership, investments in
preparedness, emergency management
capacities
• Requests to Member States:
‒ Continue to advocate for high-level political
engagement
‒ Continue to advocate for investments in
preparedness
‒ Operationalize relevant elements of HEPR
‒ Professionalize approach to emergency
management
‒ Continue to share data and lessons learned:
No one is safe until everyone is safe