Strengthening Multisectoral Engagement for Health Security

Under the WHO General Programme of Work (GPW 13), the WHO Health Emergencies Programme (WHE) contributes to the strategic priority of having 1 billion more people better protected from health emergencies. WHO developed the Resource Mapping (REMAP) tool to advance this effort and support Member States in strengthening core health security capacities. The REMAP tool was first launched in 2018 to support countries meet the requirements of the International Health Regulations (IHR, 2005) by facilitating the mobilization of financial and technical resources for implementation of National Action Plans for Health Security (NAPHS) and other country plans with relevance to health security. The tool supports countries in donor coordination, identifying gaps and needs, monitoring of plan implementation, and in the linkage of different plans to increase efficiency and achieve synergies.

The tool maps the health security projects that partners are supporting in the country — through financial or technical assistance — allowing policymakers and partners to see where the gaps exist and where more investment of resources is needed. This provides valuable information for the country and at the same time offers visibility for the partners‘ financial and technical investments.

The tool can for example, identify whether partners are mostly supporting one area such as laboratory systems with little support for another priority area like zoonosis activities. The REMAP process fosters dialogue between countries and partners for a coordinated multisectoral approach to plan implementation.

The Strategic Partnership for Health Security and Emergency Preparedness (SPH) Portal is an interactive digital platform that facilitates the sharing and exchange of information on multisectoral health security investments, activities, and capacities on a national, regional, and global scale.

In order to develop baseline capacities of Member States, the World Health Assembly resolution “WHA 69.21” further identified WHO’s critical convening role to facilitate strategic cooperation and partnership between and within States Parties along with regional and international partners, donors and networks. The SPH Portal is designed to foster these relationships, working in close cooperation with the WHO regional and national offices.

The usage of the SPH Portal by Member States has been constantly increasing since its creation in 2015. In 2019, the Executive Board expressed that the SPH Portal is a fundamental tool that all Member States have adopted in order to monitor progress in health security capacities, in the identification of needs, gaps and priorities, and in mapping and sharing crucial information on investments and resources. The World Health Assembly resolution "WHA A73/14" acknowledged the role of the SPH Portal as a central repository for data and reports on IHR Monitoring and Evaluation Framework assessments.

Cities and urban settings are crucial to preventing, preparing for, responding to, and recovering from health emergencies, and therefore enhancing the focus on urban settings is necessary for countries pursuing improved overall health security.

Urban areas, especially cities, have unique vulnerabilities that need to be addressed and accounted for in health emergency preparedness. An unprepared urban setting is more vulnerable to the catastrophic effects of health emergencies and can exacerbate the spread of diseases, whilst they are also very often the frontline for response efforts. This has been seen in past disease outbreaks, and during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is therefore crucial that health emergency preparedness in cities and urban settings is addressed through contextualized policy development, capacity building, and concrete activities undertaken at the national, subnational, and city levels.

Building on the member state request in World Health Assembly Resolution 73.8 to enhance a focus on urban preparedness, WHO convened, jointly with the Government of Singapore, a Technical Working Group on the topic in early 2021. An outcome of this is the WHO Framework on Strengthening Health Emergency Preparedness in Cities and Urban Settings , intended to support member states and policymakers at the national and city levels.