Afrigather Brazzaville – The World Well being Group (WHO) Regional Workplace for Africa in partnership with Africa Centres for Illness Management and Prevention, West African Well being Group, United States Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, UK Well being Safety Company, Robert Koch Institute and the Invoice and Melinda Gates Basis at this time kicked off the area’s largest public well being emergency operation centre (PHEOC) simulation train to step up readiness to reply to public well being emergencies, with 36 international locations participating within the two-day useful train.
The train seeks to evaluate and enhance the performance of nations’ public well being emergency administration constructions by simulating the early detection of an Ebola outbreak in a fictitious nation and its subsequent unfold to a number of international locations throughout the area by means of worldwide journey and commerce.
“With greater than 100 public well being emergencies reported within the African area annually, the heaviest burden globally, it’s important to make sure that strong, coordinated constructions are in place to reply to such threats,” stated Dr Abdou Salam Gueye, Regional Emergency Director on the WHO Regional Workplace for Africa. “This simulation train is a vital software in figuring out strengths in addition to areas that require enchancment inside such constructions and constructing an motion plan accordingly.”
The useful train handled efficient response to public well being emergencies by means of public well being emergency operation centre (PHEOC), a hub that brings collectively all related specialists, teams and stakeholders concerned in readiness and response to public well being emergencies below the umbrella of the ministry of well being.
The WHO Regional Workplace for Africa established a regional PHEOC community in 2015 and has continued to help international locations develop this important element of efficient well being emergency administration. Throughout a regional PHEOC community assembly in October 2017 and subsequent conferences, African international locations advisable that WHO and companions conduct simulation workouts to evaluate the performance of those constructions, in addition to communication and data sharing between international locations. Two such regional simulation workouts had beforehand been carried out in 2018 and 2019.
The newest simulation befell in opposition to the backdrop of an ongoing Ebola outbreak in Uganda. Uganda has reported 142 confirmed and 22 possible circumstances (whole of 164 circumstances) and 56 confirmed and 22 possible deaths (whole of 78 deaths).
An evaluation carried out by WHO in November discovered that the danger of the outbreak spreading to neighbouring international locations was excessive as a result of extent of cross-border actions between Uganda and its neighbours for commerce, social and cultural functions. As well as, Uganda hosts many refugees who proceed to maintain ties with their international locations of origin.
“Previous Ebola epidemics, in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic, have underscored the necessity to harmonize our mode of operation within the face of more and more transnational and fast-spreading public well being emergencies,” Dr Gueye stated. “WHO, its companions and African international locations will proceed to work collectively to make sure that the area is prepared to reply to future outbreaks in an efficient, collaborative and cohesive method.”
