EVER PRESENT, EVER READY
the work of WHO in emergencies
Every day, millions of people in humanitarian and emergency situations face serious threats to their health and livelihoods.
WHO’s unique global reach, technical expertise and broad range of partnerships enables us to respond rapidly and at scale, moving people, resources and supplies to where they are most needed. In 2020 and 2021, WHO responded to 87 graded emergencies including the global public health emergency of COVID-19.
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to exacerbate other health emergencies. The response of WHO and Member States to the pandemic has drawn on many capacities and platforms set up in response to previous health emergencies. It is vital that the lessons learnt from the pandemic inform and guide the evolution of WHO and the world’s capacity to prepare for, prevent, detect and respond to major health crises. To sustain the momentum towards change.
Leading coordinated health action to save lives
No organization can respond to a health emergency alone. WHO is at the centre of the global health architecture and works with a global network of over 1600 technical and operational partner institutions in responding to health emergencies and supporting better preparedness, prevention, detection and response. WHO leads the United Nations Global Health Cluster, a critical platform that galvanizes and coordinates the capacities of over 900 country and global health partners. Close work with other partners, through WHO’s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network and Standby Partnership Programme, also contributes to meeting the complex needs of crisis-affected populations with timely, effective action. Through the Emergency Medical Teams’ initiative, WHO coordinates the deployment of qualified medical teams to emergency settings and supports the establishment of national medical teams that can be deployed rapidly as required. Additionally, WHO is leading establishment of a network of public health emergency operations centres in Member States to ensure better strategic decision-making and coordination to manage future health emergencies. Such WHO-led initiatives help to ensure a global health emergency workforce to respond when necessary.
IN FOCUS | Contingency Fund for Emergencies
Public health emergencies are increasing in frequency and can escalate rapidly within and beyond borders. The ability to respond quickly can make the difference between mitigating their impact and minimizing loss of life and seeing a health emergency
spiral out of control, inflicting a heavy toll on people’s lives and well-being. WHO’s Contingency Fund for Emergencies (CFE) was created to save time, resources and lives by enabling WHO to respond rapidly to disease outbreaks and health emergencies, often within 24 hours. WHO teams can quickly access this internal financing mechanism to support relevant government ministries
and other partners in affected countries and territories to undertake rapid assessments, mobilize response teams, support the deployment of emergency supplies and
coordinate and engage in the immediate response.
The speed and versatility of CFE has galvanized WHO’s emergency response.
In 2020, against the backdrop of COVID-19, governments around the world struggled to manage infectious disease outbreaks, complex emergencies and natural and technological disasters.
In 2021, CFE enabled WHO to provided rapid, effective support to affected governments. A total of nearly US$ 23 million was released from CFE in 2021 for responses to 16 emergencies in 20 countries and territories. In 2021, the CFE was used, for instance, in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, South Sudan and the occupied Palestinian territory, both to initiate an emergency response and to address escalating humanitarian needs.
Serving the vulnerable
Protecting people living in fragile, conflict-affected and vulnerable settings during health emergencies and ensuring that essential health services and systems were maintained and strengthened was more crucial and challenging in 2020 and 2021 than ever.
Health emergencies disproportionately impact people who live in humanitarian settings, and the number of people affected by humanitarian crises increased in 2021 due to the direct and secondary effects of COVID-19 and the public health and social measures for containing it. The secondary effects on health care were highlighted by a series of “pulse” surveys on health during COVID-19: health services were severely disrupted, resources were redirected or decreased, and health inequity increased significantly. At a time of increased global needs, Member States, WHO and partners were faced with “doing more with less” as donor countries responded to their own COVID-19-related imperatives.
When WHO responds to an emergency, it is fulfilling clearly defined functions that reflect its responsibilities under the International Health Regulations (2005). WHO’s role in the international humanitarian system includes supporting the health sector as the lead of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Global Health Cluster and ensuring timely responses by all health partners. WHO serves the world’s most vulnerable people in many of the major protracted humanitarian crises with which we are sadly familiar, from the outbreaks of Ebola virus disease in Africa to maintaining essential health services in Afghanistan and the Syrian Arab Republic.
From the field | Nigeria
In Nigeria's northeast region, 8.4 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance and face insecurity every day. WHO is working with the Nigerian Ministry of Health and partners to reach those in need with life-saving health care while maintaining prevention measures. In 2021 alone, WHO provided services to more than 500 000 people, detected and investigated more than 3000 outbreak alerts and responded to epidemics of cholera and measles, while continuing to support the COVID-19 pandemic response.
WHO’s response to protracted crises also involves strengthening health systems while meeting its commitment as the provider of last resort, according to the humanitarian–development nexus approach. Reorienting a response from an acute to a protracted one is challenging and requires the work of experts in both emergencies and health systems, as well as engagement with humanitarian and development partners.
Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic
WHO’s response to COVID‑19 has been rapid, coordinated, sustained and on an unprecedented scale. WHO triggered its Incident Management Support System within its Emergency Response Framework on 1 January 2020 and published its first global strategic preparedness and response plan on 4 February 2020. Since then, WHO has been at the centre of the world’s response to COVID‑19, from convening global expertise to working on the ground with communities in some of the world’s most challenging contexts. WHO has brought the world together for the past 2 years to apply science and find evidence-based solutions to tackle the threat of SARS-CoV-2. The virus and its variants are better understood, and vaccines, diagnostic tools, treatments and other public health and social measures are available to address the drivers of SARS-CoV-2 transmission, reduce the impact of COVID-19 and end the acute phase of the pandemic.
The aim of everything that WHO has done since COVID‑19 was first detected, from global level to the Organization’s offices in the field, is designed to have an impact for countries. The support to countries has involved every part of WHO and every pillar of the response, from generating and gathering the fundamental data necessary for evidence-based decision-making and informing rapid formulation of guidelines, to the translation and application of the accumulated knowledge in the service of every community and delivery of key interventions and supplies on the ground. To achieve this, the Organization has leaned heavily on its global footprint, through the COVID‑19 response platforms of its six regional offices and more than 150 country office teams, who, in many cases, have become partners in coordinating the COVID-19 response at national level.
As we look back on the achievements and challenges of the past 2 years , we look forward to making use of the wealth of experience to protect the world from the impact of COVID-19. In 2022, our collective goal is to end the global public health emergency of COVID-19.
To do that, we must achieve two strategic objectives. The first is to reduce and control the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infections. This is essential to protect individuals – and especially vulnerable individuals at risk of severe disease or occupational exposure to the virus – from exposure, reduce the probability that future variants will arise and reduce pressure on health systems. The second objective is to prevent, diagnose and treat cases of COVID-19 to reduce mortality, morbidity and long-term sequelae. To achieve these objectives, international and national strategies must be calibrated and optimized, and operational readiness for the emergence of new threats must be strengthened.
" COVID-19 was disease X, and the next disease X is out there."
Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus