Apr 11, 2024
In 2023, WHO Member States endorsed a proposal from the WHO Director General for a strengthened Health Emergency Preparedness, Response and Resilience (HEPR) global architecture. Community Protection is a core part of this framework. Delivering community protection means putting people and communities that are affected by an emergency at the centre of decisions and actions aimed at protecting their health and well-being. It covers three integrated areas of work:
1. Technical approaches that involve and engage with those affected, including community engagement, risk communication and infodemic management to guide priority actions and strengthen community resilience.
2. Population and environmental public health interventions to control outbreaks and mitigate their effects on the health of those affected.
3. Multisectoral action to account for and mitigate social and economic impacts of emergencies and their responses.
Hosted by the Community Readiness and Resilience Unit, Country Readiness Strengthening Department of WHO Health Emergency Program, this event will bring together global to local networks of multilateral organisations, partner agencies, civil society organizations and others that work with communities that are at-risk of or affected by public health emergencies. Through a series of presentation and moderated panel discussions, this meeting will
– Review good practice and progress to date on advancing community-centred health emergency management as enabled by diverse stakeholders across the ecosystem of partners and other agencies that deliver on this agenda.
– Review good practice, challenges, and key actions for advancing community protection.
– Discuss modalities for collaboration and partnership and strengthen the network of networks for community protection.
A key outcome is to define progress, gaps, and priorities for action in delivering strengthened community protection outcomes.
Feb 21, 2024
Join the global launch of the updated Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS). This launch will mark the culmination of a collaborative revision effort involving thousands of organisations and individuals committed to elevating quality and accountability in aid. You’ll learn why and how the CHS has been strengthened and gain insights from diverse speakers on how the standard will drive greater accountability, firmly placing people affected by crises at the centre of all we do.
Attendance online or in person in Geneva, in English, with French and Arabic interpretation
Feb 19, 2024
Webinar on Collective Service Evaluation
Are you curious about the role of risk communication and community engagement in public health emergencies and why it is important for organizations to work together in this area? Join us for a webinar packed with insights from a joint evaluation of the Collective Service, a pioneering partnership between the IFRC, UNICEF and WHO. We will discuss how this collaboration has impacted public health coordination, its challenges and achievements, and strategic recommendations for the future.
This webinar is offered twice to accommodate different time zones, so please sign up using one of the links below to reserve your spot. The webinar will be held in English, but a French translation will be available.
Tuesday, 27 February
Option 1 05:00 Eastern Time | 11:00 Central European Time | 17:00 Indochina Time Register here
Option 2 11:00 Eastern Time | 17:00 Central European Time | 23:00 Indochina Time Register here
Feb 5, 2024
Background
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted collective vulnerabilities and the need to strengthen the international community’s preparedness to future pandemics. The WHO-led interim coordination mechanism aims to enhance collaboration for timely and equitable access to medical countermeasures (MCM) against pandemic threats, through a network-of-networks approach (i-MCM-Net) by leveraging existing networks in the global MCM ecosystem, without prejudging or precluding INB and IHR discussions, while awaiting the finalization of the INB deliberations. The current focus of the i-MCM-Net is to understand how ready the world is in terms of equitable access to MCMs, should a new pandemic threat emerge. Including to identify gaps and potential priority actions to improve readiness.
As a continuation of dialogues with the civil society organizations on pandemic preparation, readiness and response, WHO is convening a virtual meeting on Thursday 22 February 2024. This meeting will provide an opportunity for the i-MCM-Net to provide an update on the analysis underway around Pandemic Influenza, Novel Coronavirus and Disease X and to hear insights and perspectives on the analysis. There will also be opportunity for the Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to provide input following the dialogue.
Scope
This virtual meeting will focus on discussing a recently compiled draft report, exploring emerging gaps, and discussing potential key areas of action for greater pandemic preparedness and efficient pandemic response.
Purpose
The meeting aims to engage participants in a collaborative examination of the report, emphasizing the identification of challenges, fostering cross-sectoral dialogues.
Expected outcomes
- Provide an update on i-MCM Net, an interim coordination mechanism to enhance collaboration for timely and equitable access to medical countermeasures against pandemic threats, through a network-of-networks approach.
- Facilitate discussions around best approaches for i-MCM-Net, based on lessons learned from COVID-19 pandemic responses, thereby suggesting key considerations for the i-MCM-Net mechanism, including the initial mapping of MCM (the i-MCM-Net mapping report), which will be further refined by May 2024.
- Establish communication channels with the CSOs engagement forum and initiate ongoing conversations to improve collaboration for timely and fair access to MCM against pandemics.
- Provide input for a practical framework ensuring informed procedures for developing, producing, accessing, allocating, and deploying MCMs against pandemic threats.
Participants
Registration open to CSOs that actively support improving equity in the medical countermeasures ecosystem
More info on WHO
Feb 5, 2024
Working for Health is launching a quarterly seminar series in 2024 – Join the first webinar, showcasing the Working for Health Implementation and Learning Report 2018-2023, highlighting the approach, the lessons, achievements, multi-sectoral collaboration and the impact of the Working for Health programme, global, regional and country-level action. Looking ahead to the Africa Investment Forum which will be held in 2024, this webinar spotlights African region, bringing together vested stakeholders to build on the successes of Working for Health to spur collaboration and further action in the region and globally.
Speakers include representatives from the World Health Organization (WHO), International Labour Organization (ILO), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, United Nations Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office (UNMPTF) and Ministry of Health and Labour Representatives from across the region.
Speakers
- Jim Campbell, WHO
- Stefano Scarpetta, OECD
- Frank Hagemann, ILO
- Dr Zainab Gura, Deputy Director-General, and Dr Joel Gondi, Head of Human Resources for Health, Kenya Ministry of Health
- Paul Marsden and Dr Meredith Fendt-Newlin, WHO Working for Health
- Simphiwe Mabhele, ILO East and Southern Africa
- Dr James Asamani, WHO Africa regional office
- Moderators: Dr Shakira Choonara, WHO and Maren Hopfe, ILO Working for Health
