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Two years of COVID-19: What it takes to run an emergency response

Since the start of the pandemic, WHO’s Incident Management Support Teams (IMST) have been bringing all the necessary ‘brains’ to the COVID-19 response, at all levels globally, drawing on different areas of expertise. “While WHO’s essential public health work has been dominated by the COVID-19 response for two years now, the IMSTs have been our engine, powering emergency operations with evidence-based, actionable and on-the-ground support to countries and partners,” said Dr Dorit Nitzan, Europe Regional Emergency Director.

Tonga: WHO supports UN response to volcanic eruption and tsunami

Working with partner UN agencies to support the response to the volcanic eruption in Tonga, WHO’s Country Liaison Officer Dr Yutaro Setoya ‘stood outside from dawn until long into the night’ to ensure communication between UN agencies and the Tongan government; and played a critical role in coordinating the work with the Government. WHO supported the rapid deployment of the Tonga Emergency Medical Assistance Team to provide medical care and psychosocial support in the aftermath of the eruption, and to treat COVID-19 patients, as needed.

Ethiopia: WHO ships critically-needed medical supplies in Tigray region

WHO has called for unfettered humanitarian access and for of fuel to be allowed into Tigray, Ethiopia, to enable the transport and distribution of medical goods, personal protective equipment, treatments, and reproductive health supplies to health centres in Tigray. The current lack of fuel, cash and supplies has caused humanitarian operations in the region to be reduced or suspended altogether; and without access to these supplies, health workers have been trying to continue providing health services with almost no medicines or functioning equipment. WHO has shipped over 33 metric tonnes of supplies in recent weeks, the first such shipments the agency has been permitted since July 2021.

Focus on COVID-19

1 billionth vaccine dose from COVAX; two new drugs to treat COVID-19

The year 2022 opened with a message of hope in action. The COVAX Facility delivered its billionth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, shipped to Rwanda, in an effort to achieve global equity especially in low- and lower-middle income countries. At the same time, WHO recommended two new drugs to treat COVID-19: Baricitinib is for patients with severe or critical COVID-19 and is to be given along with corticosteroids; while Sotrovimab is an alternative to casirivimab-imdevimab, a monoclonal antibody cocktail that WHO recommended in September 2021.

South Africa: mRNA hub progress is foundation for self-reliance
The WHO mRNA global hub will not only ensure that South Africa and the whole continent can produce and equitably distribute the COVID-19 vaccine; it will be adapted to help in the fight against HIV, tuberculosis and malaria. The central aim is to develop a training facility where mRNA technology is developed to the scale required for mass production of vaccines and then for that full package of technology to be transferrable to multiple recipients in low- and middle-income countries.

Thailand: Myanmar migrant workers count on vaccination to get back to work
As Thailand began opening its borders and welcomed thousands of Myanmar people back to work in factories, farms and homes, WHO joined the Thai Ministry of Public Health to ensure that the returning migrants were informed of protective measures and thus minimise infections. WHO helped ascertain a risk communication that reached people from a variety of groups, including migrants with one-day passes working at Mae Sot border checkpoints, local communities, and those in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors.

Costa Rica: PAHO provides computers to support education in indigenous communities| ES
To reduce the gap in students’ access to learning devices during the pandemic, WHO provided laptops to the Ministry of Public Education of Costa Rica; assigned specifically to educational centres in indigenous communities across the country.

occupied Palestinian territory: WHO provides refrigerated vehicles to strengthen vaccine cold chain
WHO has provided refrigerated vehicles worth US$ 93 000 to the Palestinian Ministry of Health to support to the health system and the national COVID-19 response. Funded by the Federal Republic of Germany, these will bolster efforts to strengthen the vaccine cold chain to ensure the safe and efficient transporting of COVID-19 and other vaccines to health facilities across the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

Cambodia: COVID-19 surveillance strengthens local preparedness for influenza
The COVID-19 pandemic response in Cambodia has also accelerated the development of local preparedness capacities to help in effective decision-making during any influenza pandemic in the future. With support from WHO, the Ministry of Health is delivering activities that strengthen surveillance, risk assessment, and rapid response that include trainings, simulation exercises in contact tracing, and conducting intra action reviews.

Other health emergencies

Mozambique: Health workers affected by Cyclone ANA remain on the front lines to saving lives | PT
Last month’s tropical storm that hit Mozambique left significant damage in houses, schools, health facilities, churches and mosques, markets, and government offices; and caused floods on farmlands, destroyed fishing vessels, damaged electric posts, and left roads impassable. With almost no electricity, health workers – who themselves were badly affected – continue to provide care and work tirelessly to sustain maternal and child health services, and treat patients.

Syrian Arab Republic: Severe snowstorm in northwest Syria places health services in impossible situation
A snowstorm swept the conflict zone of northwest Syria, home to some 4.4 million people with little to no infrastructure. Along with the threats of COVID-19, the damages exacerbated the lack of fuel and heating, logistical difficulties, and delivery shortages to over 88 000 Syrians living across 59 camps for internally displaced people. WHO and the Health Cluster immediately deployed rescue health services to the affected region.

South Sudan: Supporting cholera vaccination in flooded hotspot areas
WHO, IOM, UNICEF, and other partners have supported a pre-emptive oral cholera vaccination in the high- risk flood-affected areas in South Sudan, including internally displaced persons camps, covering over 202 000 people. A second round of the campaign is slated this month, along with similar vaccination campaigns in other priority areas and cholera hotspots in Unity, Jonglei, Upper Nile, Central Equatoria, Eastern Equatoria, Lakes, and Warrap states.

Pakistan: Polio eradication effort commended
With one child paralysed with wild poliovirus in Pakistan and four children in neighbouring Afghanistan in 2021, [Pakistan] is seeing the best opportunity to end polio for good. But reaching the final goal needs strong commitment, and the progress in Pakistan be sustained while ensuring that quality vaccination campaigns on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border reach every child.

Serbia: Sustaining local influenza vaccine production
Serbia’s efforts to develop and sustain local vaccine production over the past decade have helped secure an assured and independent supply of influenza vaccines when the next influenza pandemic strikes. Today, the Torlak Institute of Virology continues to work with WHO and the Serbian government to ensure its success is sustained for the long-term; and strengthen the policy environment and health system, surveillance and early detection, product development and manufacturing, communications to support vaccination, and financing.

Donors, partnerships, and critical support

Celebrating the CSO Initiative: building community readiness, response and resilience to emergencies
Since its launch in 2021, WHO’s collaboration with governments and the Civil Society Organization Initiative to support local communities’ involvement in decision-making for emergencies preparedness, has now reached around 2.4 m affected and at-risk people in eight Member States, covering a broad spectrum of society including women at risk from domestic violence, children with disabilities, religious leaders, older people, refugees and migrants, and Roma communities.

‘Delivering when no one else would’
“COVID-19 has taken so much from us, but it has also given us a unique opportunity to put aside our differences, to break down barriers, to see and seek the best in each other, and lift our voices for health for all,” says WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. As the world continues to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, WHO and its partners – especially those working in the frontlines at all levels – show the power of solidarity in this collection of stories through the Solidarity Response Fund.

Transforming impact in emergencies through flexible, sustained financing
Contributors to the WHO's Contingency Fund for Emergencies are working on strengthening the impact achieved through the Fund. “Simply put, the CFE has transformed the way in how WHO responds to emergencies. […] It has now turned us very much into first responders, and at times, also providers of the last resort,” says Dr Mike Ryan, Executive Directory of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, of the Fund that has now become one of WHO's most powerful tools to rapidly respond to acute health emergencies globally.

Treatment centre in a box and other new ideas
WHO and WFP’s INITIATE2 looks for rapid solutions for emergency response
WHO and WFP launched INITIATE2 in 2021 to strengthen partnerships among emergency responders and humanitarian agencies, and develop innovative solutions that can be quickly deployed in health emergencies. The first project is now being rolled out: a rapidly deployable infectious diseases treatment centre, which will provide high-quality care for a range of diseases through all stages of an outbreak.

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