Public Health Emergency
PHE policy and system in Thailand
The programme aims at improving national capability to prepare, prevent, detect and respond to public health emergencies. With collective partnership, CCS–PHE generates evidence which supports policy decisions, strengthens M&E systems, builds capacity and networking and fosters the alignment and synergies with national strategies, legislations and international policy and legal frameworks, through the steps below
- Invigorating firm commitments at provincial and national levels to achieve health security
- Promoting evidence generation focusing on policy and systems, strengthening M&E, building capacities and networking
- Mobilizing financial resources, social and intellectual capital from multisectoral partners.
Focus areas
- Governance, policy and legislation: review, assess and draw lessons on achievements and deficiencies of the governance structure, its functions and relevant legislations and introduce a proposal for improvement for future major PHE
- Improving health system capacities in preparedness and response, including maintaining essential health services, community health models, health workforce strengthening, etc.
- Monitoring and evaluation: the national monitoring framework and provincial scorecard will be developed to assess PHE capacities
- Capacity-building and networking: establish an ‘ending COVID-19 pandemic network’ with relevant partners
- AMR activities will be continued under the PHE programme
Expected outcomes
- A participatory, effective and sustainable disease control mechanism as mandated by the Royal Decree which was amended to the Communicable Diseases Act B.E. 2558 in 2021 and the National Reform Plan on Health Security
- A comprehensive national multisectoral strategic plan on emerging infectious disease (EID) to guide policy direction and strategic action for effective responses to EID with sustainable resources and policy support
- Reoriented health systems to better prepare, prevent, detect and respond to future pandemics, while maintaining other essential health services – in particular the development of the urban primary health-care system, comprehensive community health model and infrastructure in Bangkok Metropolitan Area
- A contingency financing plan for public health emergencies is developed through consultation with three public health insurance schemes and MoPH
- A public health intelligence system which supports evidence-informed policy decision-making that includes monitoring of public perception and misinformation for risk communication and community engagement
- Development of a national and provincial M&E platform for monitoring PHE capacity, a tool for self-assessment by provincial partners which includes indicators, measurement, interpretation and protocols of assessment
- Development of a national M&E platform on AMR with focus infection prevention and control on ‘One Health’ approach and production of an annual national M&E report
- Designation of a national institute to be fully responsible for infection prevention and control
- AMR is a mandatory surveillance item to be announced by the Communicable Disease Act B.E.2558
- The establishment and strengthening of a ‘network of networks’ mechanism at national, regional and global levels which mobilizes social and intellectual capital and resources to support public health security
- Strengthen multisectoral, multi-stakeholder collaboration and expand networks of AMR based on ‘One Health’ approach
- Knowledge management packages consolidating national and international assets during COVID-19
Objectives
- To identify, prioritize and implement multisectoral actions that enable the people of Thailand to live normal lives with COVID-19 with minimum negative implications
- To identify, analyse and prioritize gaps and strategic actions and take essential steps by all relevant partners to boost and sustain PHE capacities at national and provincial levels
- To strengthen PHE M&E systems; strengthen and sustain the existing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) M&E platform
- To engage in national, regional and global collaborations, initiatives, instruments or frameworks relevant to PHE
SDGs
3.d. Strengthen the capacity of all countries, in particular developing countries, for early warning, risk reduction and management of national and global health risks
SDG 3.9, SDG 13.1, and SDG 13.3: Reduce deaths and illnesses from environmental exposures, climate related hazards and natural disasters and improve capacity for climate change mitigation