A highly infectious strain of deadly bacteria has been released at a music festival and other public events in multiple countries—this is the fictional scenario that confronted participants in Exercise Crystal from 4 to 5 December.
Representatives from 29 countries and areas across the Western Pacific Region took part in the annual simulation exercise, testing their communication and coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO) during outbreaks or public health emergencies.
By guiding collective action, timely and transparent communication between countries and WHO can prevent outbreaks from becoming epidemics and save lives. In fact, the 196 state signatories to the International Health Regulations, also known as IHR (2005), are legally required to notify WHO of internationally significant public health events.
However, knowing when and how communication should take place requires practice. It also requires trust—countries need to know that sensitive information shared will be handled carefully and that WHO’s guidance and support will be useful.
“We host Exercise Crystal every year to help countries increase their familiarity with IHR communication and build relationships before a real-life emergency occurs,” said Dr Ailan Li, WHO Regional Emergency Director for the Western Pacific. “We came up with that name because crystals are valuable and transparent, just like good IHR communication.”
WHO/D.RivadaFifteen countries and areas connected via videoconference for a debriefing.
Simulations such as Exercise Crystal are a useful way to practice and strengthen IHR capacities, better preparing countries to respond to real-life public health emergencies. These exercises are an important component of the global IHR Monitoring and Evaluation Framework and the Asia Pacific Strategy for Emerging Diseases and Public Health Emergencies (APSED III).
Over the past decade, participants have stressed the utility of the exercise (see “Participant feedback on Exercise Crystal 2018” box below), citing increased facility with IHR communication. In the first year, just five countries and areas notified WHO of the simulated public health event within the expected timeframe. This year that number rose to 26.
Crystals are valuable and transparent, just like good IHR communication.
- Dr Li Ailan
WHO Regional Emergency Director
WHO has conducted the exercise in the Western Pacific Region every year since 2008, except 2009 when WHO was responding to a real-life event—pandemic influenza A(H1N1).
As the entire simulation is run virtually, the cost is minimal compared to the value of the experience, knowledge and relationships built through the exercise.
Ministry of Health, Singapore/Yun Keng Pang
Singapore was one of the countries participating in Exercise Crystal 2018.
“We have been incredibly impressed with the level of enthusiasm countries and areas have brought to Exercise Crystal over the past 10 years, and we will continue to work together to build the capacities needed to prevent, detect and respond to potential health emergencies,” said Dr Li.
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Participant feedback on Exercise Crystal 2018 “The scenario was really interesting—we enjoyed it! It was good to learn about something new [bioterrorism] and identify gaps we have in this area.” “Great first-time experience for participants… [The] Exercise brought attention back to always being prepared for any threat of public health concern.” “We enjoyed the scenario as it was interesting to consider a response to a deliberate biological event… We will be debriefing on this exercise with our colleagues, and it will be interesting to hear their responses.” “The exercise helped us identify the gaps that we would need to address in order to improve our local capacity to respond to any sudden-onset event in the future.” |