Ghana, Morocco, Oman, Tanzania and Tunisia made rapid progress updating and strengthening their pandemic preparedness plans this week. Multi-disciplinary teams from these countries reviewed their plans with experts from WHO and US CDC at a participatory workshop in Tunisia, 13-15 August 2018.
Using a tool developed by WHO and CDC, the countries devised action plans to update their Integrated Pandemic Preparedness Plans (IPPP). The draft plans included action items, timelines, and responsible units to facilitate updating their national IPPPs.
The five countries have existing IPPPs that are now being revised. All participating countries have also completed a Joint External Evaluation on the International Health Regulation core capacities, and published the report resulting from it. They also all have National Influenza Centres. These existing resources and assessments lay the foundation for the pandemic preparedness work, together with partners, such as WHO and CDC, who funded this event.
PIP areas of work Regulatory capacities, Risk communication and Deployment attended as subject matter experts and facilitators. WHO Global Influenza Programme and Clinical Management Team were also supporting the AFRO and EMRO colleagues who organized and were the lead facilitators of the workshop. CDC funded the training organization and observed the event.
Overall, the workshop strengthened national preparedness plans for pandemic influenza through country exchange, expert presentations and the various resources and tools made available. Country delegations were able to identify the areas of strength and gaps in their IPPPs and have begun updating them using available expertise and information. This led to the clearly defined plans of action for the finalization of their IPPPs, including identification of areas that require additional work.
The following WHO guidance documents were instrumental for the workshop. Indeed, they are essential reading for any countries embarking on revising and updating their pandemic preparedness plans:
- Essential Steps for Developing or Updating a National Pandemic Preparedness Plan
- A Checklist for Pandemic Influenza Risk and Impact Management