The WHO South-East Asia Regional Office (SEARO) convened its six-month progress review of the implementation of the Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Partnership Contribution (PIP-PC) workplans, focusing on Outputs 1 and 2 for the period January to June 2025. Held virtually across three sessions on 4, 8, and 10 July, the review brought together focal points from WHO Country Offices (WCOs) in nine PIP PC recipient countries (excluding Thailand), along with colleagues from WHO Headquarters and SEARO.
While this was the routine six-month progress review, discussions also assessed cumulative progress over the past 18 months of the current 2024–25 biennium. This included analysis of financial implementation rates, key achievements, implementation challenges and lessons learnt. The sessions provided a platform to share updates from the PIP Secretariat and SEARO, reiterate project compliance requirements, and jointly identify priority actions to accelerate implementation in view of the upcoming closure of the 2024-25 biennium.
Photo: Participants from WCOs (Maldives, Sri Lanka & Timor Leste with SEARO and PIP Secretariat at WHO HQ
Key updates and implementation progress:
The PIP Secretariat at WHO Headquarters presented a comprehensive overview of global and regional implementation progress while underscoring the importance of technical, financial, and International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) compliance, and financial compliance. In light of ongoing austerity measures and operational constraints, the Secretariat and SEAR urged country offices to expedite the utilization of allocated funds, supported by appropriate justifications for administrative approvals. Updates were also shared on PIP PC operational planning for the 2026–27 biennium. The secretariat emphasised on the need to prioritize activities in alignment with PIP-related outcomes and outputs under the Global Programme of Work (GPW) 14 results framework.
Photo : Participants from WCOs (DPR Korea, India & Nepal) with SEARO and PIP Secretariat at HQ
As of 30 June 2025, all the budget centres in the WHO South-East Asia Region reported an overall financial implementation rate of 67%. The WHO country offices of fund recipient countries provided updates on their implementation progress which varied across the nine participating countries. The majority of countries were on track in terms of financial implementation. A couple of countries highlighted implementation challenges linked to austerity measures.
While recognizing the achievements that supported workplan implementation over the past 18 months, participants agreed on the importance of taking targeted actions to accelerate financial implementation in the remaining months of the current biennium.
WHO-SEARO also shared updates on activities being undertaken at the regional level. These activities included documentation of HLIP II (2018-2023) implementation in SEAR, A descriptive analysis of the evolution of National Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Plans across Member States, Preparation of a compendium of National Influenza Centre (NIC) profiles, Development of a regional roadmap and action framework for implementing Preparedness, Response and Resilience (PRET), A landscape analysis of seasonal influenza vaccination and procurement systems in the region.
Photo : Participants from WCOs (Bangladesh, Bhutan & Myanmar) with SEARO and PIP Secretariat HQ
Looking Ahead
Participants from the three levels of WHO—Headquarters, Regional Office, and Country Offices—agreed on the following key actions for the way forward:
- Accelerate the utilization of PIP-PC funds to meet implementation targets and adhere to biennium closure deadlines.
- Ensure full compliance with technical, financial, and International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) requirements under the PIP-PC project.
- Explore country interest in accepting supplementary funds to support planned activities, including the implementation of Terms of Reference for Unity Studies in the South-East Asia Region. Countries willing to receive supplementary funds were requested to inform the PIP Secretariat through WHO-SEARO.
- Maintain timely monthly reporting on PIP-PC activities and share impact stories or success cases for inclusion in the PIP Annual Report 2025.