Joint external evaluation of the International Health Regulations (‎2005)‎ core capacities of the United Republic of Tanzania-Zanzibar

Overview

The United Republic of Tanzania–Zanzibar completed its first Joint External Evaluation (JEE) from 22 to 28 April 2017. The present review, which took place just over six years later (21–25 August 2023), was the second JEE for Zanzibar. It was also the world’s 133rd JEE (in 122 countries) and the 55th in the WHO African Region.

The Joint External Evaluation (JEE) team expresses its appreciation to Zanzibar for its commitment to health security and for volunteering for a JEE for the second time. This evaluation was conducted using the JEE tool version 3. This revised third edition of the tool incorporates lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and other public health emergencies. It was realized that the level of capacity that was previously thought to be sufficient was not. Consequently, the tool was substantively reworked and the standard has been increased throughout. This makes it particularly important to emphasize that direct comparison of scores alone is both invalid and contraindicated. This applies to scores between countries and also scores resulting from the use of different versions of the JEE tool.

Findings from the joint external evaluation

During the JEE mission, which took place from 21 to 25 August 2023, Zanzibar’s capacities in 19 technical areas were evaluated through a peer-to-peer, consultative process that brought a multisectoral group of national experts together with the multinational and multidisciplinary expert JEE team for a week of discussion, interaction and selected site visits. After a week of collaborative talks, this process led to consensus on scores and priority actions across the 19 technical areas. These are presented with the aim of improving the implementation of the International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005) and enhancing health security and the resilience of the Zanzibar health system in public health emergencies.