Browsing by Author "Blumberg, Lucille"
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Item Functioning of the International Health Regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic(2021) Aavitsland, Preben; Aguilera, Ximena; Salem Al-Abri, Seif; Amani, Vincent; Aramburu, Carmen; Attia, Thouraya; Blumberg, Lucille; Chittaganpitch, Malinee; Attia, Thouraya; Blumberg, Lucille; Chittaganpitch, Malinee; Le Duc, James; Li, Dexin; Mokhtariazad, Talat; Moussif, Mohamed; Ojo, Olubunmi; Okwo-Bele, Jean-Marie; Saito, Tomoya; Alpha Sall, Amadou; Salter, Mark; Sohn, Myongsei; Wieler, Lothar H.When the International Health Regulations (IHR) came into force in 2007, WHO announced that “the global community has a new legal framework to better manage its collective defences to detect disease events and to respond to public health risks and emergencies”. The IHR aim to enable the prevention, detection, and containment of health risks and threats, the strengthening of national capacities for that purpose, and the coordination of a global alert and response system. In the prolonged and unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, some have stated that the IHR “are a conservative instrument that constrain rather than facilitate rapid action”. What we, the Review Committee on the Functioning of the IHR (2005) during the COVID-19 Response, found instead was that much of what is in the IHR is well considered, appropriate, and meaningful in any public health emergency. However, many countries only applied the IHR in part, were not sufficiently aware of these regulations, or deliberately ignored them,3,4 and that WHO did not make full use of the powers given to it through the wording and spirit of the IHR. Thus, the IHR are not deficient, but their implementation by member states and by WHO was inadequate. The IHR Review Committee on COVID-19, which consists of 20 experts with diverse health expertise from around the world, derived these findings through a combination of literature review, background information requested from the WHO IHR Secretariat, interviews with experts, statements from member states, and review of IHR articles.Item Report of the Review Committee on the Functioning of the International Health Regulations (2005) during the COVID-19 response(2021) Aguilera, Ximena; Al-Abri, Seif Salam; Anami, Vincent; Annabi Attia, Thouraya; Aramburu, Carmen; Blumberg, Lucille; Chittaganpitch, Malinee; LeDuc, James; Li, Dexin; Maksyutov, Rinat; Mokhtari Azad, Talat; Moussif, Mohamed; Ojo, Olubunmi; Okwo-Bele, Jean-Marie; Saito, Tomoya; Alpha Sall, Amadou; Salter, Mark; Sohn, Myongsei; Wieler, Lothar H.The Review Committee on the Functioning of the International Health Regulations (2005) during the COVID-19 Response was convened by the WHO Director-General on 8 September 2020, at the request of Member States in resolution WHA73.1 (2020), in line with Article 50 of the IHR. The Committee’s mandate was to review the functioning of the IHR during the COVID-19 response, with reference to IHR provisions as appropriate, relating but not limited to: • outbreak alert, verification and risk assessment, information sharing and communication; • international coordination and collaboration, including the role of the National IHR Focal Points (NFPs); • the Emergency Committee’s working modalities, and declaration of a public health emergency of international concern, including the consideration of an intermediate level of alert; • additional health measures implemented by States Parties in relation to international travel; • the implementation and reporting of IHR core capacities, including the possible establishment. of peer review processes; and • progress made on the implementation of recommendations by previous IHR Review Committees.Item Report of the Review Committee on the Functioning of the International Health Regulations (2005) during the COVID-19 response(2021) Aguilera, Ximena; Salam Al-Abri, Seif; Anami, Vincent; Annabi Attia, Thouraya; Aramburu, Carmen; Blumberg, Lucille; Chittaganpitch, Malinee; LeDuc, James; Li, Dexin; Maksyutov, Rinat; Mokhtari Azad, Talat; Moussif, Mohamed; Ojo, Olubunmi; Okwo-Bele, Jean-Marie; Saito, Tomoya; Alpha Sall, Amadou; Salter, Mark; Sohn, Myongsei; Wieler, Lothar H.It is just 10 years since the first Review Committee reported to the Sixty-fourth World Health Assembly on the performance of the International Health Regulations (IHR) 2005 during the influenza A (H1N1) pandemic in 2009–2010. Among other observations, the Review Committee on the Functioning of the International Health Regulations (2005) in relation to Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 concluded that: “The world is ill-prepared to respond to a severe influenza pandemic or to any similarly global, sustained and threatening public health emergency”. The post-H1N1 review of the IHR drew particular attention to the many vulnerabilities in national public health capacities, limitations of scientific knowledge, difficulties in decision-making in the context of uncertainty, complexities in international cooperation and challenges in communication. It also highlighted the need to further strengthen the WHO Secretariat’s internal capacity to respond to a sustained public health emergency of international concern, such as a pandemic. Subsequent public health efforts were directed towards strengthening health systems and building capacities at the national, regional and global levels to prevent, detect and respond to health emergencies. Today, however, it seems that those efforts were insufficient. Indeed, some of the countries that had seemed best prepared to detect and respond to a deadly virus turned out to be among the least able to prevent or control the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) nationally, internationally or both. Unprecedented levels of international collaboration in response to the pandemic have been seen alongside concerning examples of isolationism. Countries with a strong local public health approach were able to successfully suppress the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Clearly a pandemic caused by a novel pathogen against which neither a vaccine nor effective treatment exists can only be controlled by a strong and strategic public health response. Therefore, strengthening public health capacities, alongside the integration of public health within the health sector and across the whole of government, must be a high priority.