The South-East Asia Regional Practice of All-Hazard IHR Event Communication Exercise is an annual simulation exercise organized by the WHO South-East Asia Region (SEAR), with support from SEAR WHO country offices. It is designed to test and enhance the functionality of Event Communication within and between member states, towards continuous enhancement of Member States capacity in International Health Regulation (IHR) related Event Communication designed to strengthen public health emergency preparedness and response capacities in the region. On 8 Jul, 2025, Bangladesh, led by the National IHR Focal Point (IHR NFP) and supported by WCO Bangladesh participated in the third edition of the SAPHIRE.
This year’s SAPHIRE SimEx which focused on food safety was aimed at testing functional communication between IHR NFPs and INFOSAN (International Food Safety Authorities Network) Emergency Contact Point (ECP) in the WHO South-East Asia region. Effective communication on health hazards that threaten international public health is a critical attribute of the International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005) which includes notification, information sharing, consultation, and event verification. Ensuring effective and operational communications and coordination between State Party IHR NFPs and INFOSAN ECP in countries thereby facilitating timely and accurate information exchange between both parties for the effective implementation of IHR (2005) to prevent, protect against, control, and provide a public health response to the international spread of disease was the thrust of this year’s SimEx. The exercise was aimed at validating the accessibility of the National IHR Focal Points, INFOSAN ECP and WHO IHR Contact Point as well as providing an opportunity for IHR NFP, in coordination with INFOSAN ECP, to practice assessment of public health events. It also helped participants better understand the roles of the National IHR Focal Point and INFOSAN ECP, IHR principles and obligations in the context of IHR event communication.
SimEx is a significant component of the IHR monitoring and evaluation framework along with Joint External Review (JEE), After Action Review (AAR) & State Party self-Assessment reporting (SPAR) which allow state parties assess their implementation of core public health capacities under the IHR (2005). It provides an evidence-based assessment of functionality, practicality, adequacy, sufficiency, and efficiency of capacities and plans to respond to emergencies towards strengthening preparedness and response systems.
This year’s SimEx brought together over 20 experts in IHR, various entities and agencies of government such as the Bangladesh Food Safety Agency (BFSA), Bangladesh Standard and testing Institute (BSTI), Institute of Public Health (IPH), Management Information System (MIS), Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), and Communicable Disease Control (CDC) of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) to collaboratively manage a simulated outbreak of a mysterious disease affecting infants later found out to be due to consumption of contaminated baby milk product.
The exercise which was delivered with a scenario and 18 injects that enabled the participants to fully practice essential steps in an IHR event communications requiring multisectoral collaboration and coordination with INFOSAN colleagues as well as IHR NFPs at regional and other country level thereby allowing participants fully demonstrate and achieve the stated objectives of the exercise.
/countries/bangladesh/saphire-2025-food-safety-collaboration.jpg?sfvrsn=12f38863_3 "Collaborating for Food Safety and Public Health")
Prof Farhad Hussain, the Director Disease Control, Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) on behalf of the IHR NFP for Bangladesh, acknowledged the continued usefulness of this annual exercise in strengthening IHR communication and multisectoral coordination. “This year’s scenario on food safety and bringing together counterparts from the food safety sectors and understanding the working of the INFOSAN EPC point was very impactful. The country will build on this exercise to further strengthen IHR implementation as it relates to food safety among relevant sectors in the country” WHO pledged its continued support to Government in building on the lessons learnt from the exercise towards strengthening IHR implementation in the country.”
For more information on this publication, please contact Salma Sultana ssultana@who.int