IHR News
The WHO quarterly bulletin on IHR implementation
Other news
CAPSCA – First European meeting
The CAPSCA Project held its first European meeting in Paris 20–22 September 2011 with the objective of contributing to improving public health emergency responses in the aviation sector in accordance with international best practice and in a harmonized manner. CAPSCA – the Cooperative agreement for preventing the spread of communicable diseases through air travel – is lead by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). It aims, in coordination with WHO and other partners, to help reduce the risk of spread of communicable diseases through air travel by means of cooperative arrangements between participating states. In Europe the CAPSCA process has only started now, whereas it is already well-established in Africa, the Asia Pacific and the Americas regions. Shortly it will also start operating in the Middle East. The main conclusions of the Europe meeting include to encourage states to prepare, update and exercise public health emergency preparedness plans in accordance with ICAO standards and the IHR (2005). To promote international collaboration for IHR implementation, states and international organizations should harmonize regulations and guidelines, mobilize resources for IHR implementation, foster human resources development and education and promote intersectorial collaboration. States attending the meeting agreed for ICAO to established the CAPSCA project in the ICAO North Atlantic and European Regions.
This newsletter seeks to provide useful information for NFPs, countries and partners in implementing the IHR. We welcome your suggestions and comments and invite you to send these to Ms Sophia Desillas at: ihrinfo@who.int
TEPHINET Program Directors' Meeting
The Training Programs in Epidemiology and Public Health Interventions Network (TEPHINET) held its Program Directors' Meeting in Lyon from 21 to 23 September 2011 in collaboration with the IHR Coordination Department. The mission of TEPHINET is to support the development of a global network of field epidemiology training programs (FETPs) across the globe. The focus of the meeting was on FETP accreditation and on reinforcement of collaboration between TEPHINET and WHO. It followed the Expert Meeting on FETP accreditation that was held at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in Stockholm, on 7–9 July 2011. The main outputs were the adoption of the FETP accreditation principle, and the decision to implement a pilot phase managed by TEPHINET which will be evaluated. The results of the evaluation will be presented during the next TEPHINET Global Conference in 2012.