Sri Lanka successfully concludes the Joint External Evaluation of the International Health Regulations (IHR, 2005) Core Capacities

Sri Lanka completed the Joint External Evaluation (JEE) of the International Health Regulations (IHR, 2005) Core Capacities during the week of 04-08 September 2023. This evaluation represents a significant milestone in the country’s commitment to strengthening national and international capacities to prevent, detect, and respond to public health threats.

The JEE is a comprehensive, collaborative process that assesses a country's core capacities to implement the IHR (2005). It is a voluntary tool under the IHR Monitoring and Evaluation Framework. Sri Lanka conducted its first JEE in 2017 using the first JEE assessment tool. Sri Lanka’s repeat JEE in 2023 is the twelfth globally under the third tool of JEE.

In 2023 the country embarked on several other assessments such as the IHR-PVS National Bridging Workshop to identify strengths and weaknesses in the coordination between animal and human health services for 19 technical areas that are key for the prevention, detection and response to health events at the human-animal interface. The country also conducted a national level assessment of public health risks utilizing the WHO Strategic Risk Assessment Tool (STAR) in May 2023. These findings of these assessments all contribute towards aligning country priorities for the upcoming National Action Plan for Health Security 2024-28.

The JEE brought together experts from various fields to evaluate a country's ability to prevent, detect, and respond to public health emergencies jointly with the Member State counterparts. The JEE measured national status and progress in achieving the core capacities required under the IHR (2005). The process was a fully collaborative, and the final priority actions and scores reflected the evaluators’ understanding of the work done, the discussions held throughout the evaluation, and finally – importantly – the consensus opinion of the Sri Lankan experts and the JEE Team on the priority areas of focus to move forward.

Picture credit: WHO Sri Lanka

The evaluation process in Sri Lanka involved a thorough examination of various aspects of the country’s public health system. Five overarching recommendations emerged from the weeklong deliberations and discussions among stakeholders and experts. These are intended to address cross- cutting challenges affecting Sri Lanka’s capacities across many of the different technical areas that were explored in greater depth in the JEE process.

Overarching policy priorities & next steps

1. Strengthening capacities and addressing gaps in capacities by leveraging the advancements necessary in the cross-cutting enabling functions of legislation, financing and human resources
2. Coordinated multisectoral collaboration across public health functions and services such as surveillance, laboratories and risk communication and community engagement
3. Intersectoral actions for addressing risks due to hazards such as antimicrobial resistance, zoonosis, food safety, chemical, and radio nuclear events spanning multiple sectors
4. Ensuring macro-level actions at the national and provincial levels are intrinsically linked to implementation at the service facilities and personnel at the interface with the community and the community itself
5. Expanding and deepening the use of digital technology, innovations, and public-private partnerships 

The JEE underlines the critical importance of preparedness planning and of allocating funding not only to human health, but also to all sectors involved in health security. The mission report for the Joint External Evaluation will be publicly available in the coming months.

The country will now embark on the development of the National Action Plan for Health Security 2024-2028 taking into consideration the findings and recommendations from the Joint External Evaluation 2023 and other voluntary IHR monitoring and evaluation tools. 

Picture credit: WHO Sri Lanka