The World Health Organization's Frontline Support to Countries During the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on January 30, 2020. WHO rapidly scaled up its response including through its 149 country offices to support Member States prepare for and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in Public Health
Main Authors: Amy Coates, Kathleen Taylor Warren, Corey Henderson, Michelle McPherson, Offeibea Obubah, Peter Graaff, Shambhu Acharya
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Subjects:
COVID-19
SARS-CoV-2
pandemic response
World Health Organization
World Health Organization country offices
technical assistance
Public aspects of medicine
RA1-1270
Emergency, Prevention, Preparedness, and Response
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.850260
https://doaj.org/article/602918ce9d35411f83779b3b18e04989
Description
Summary:The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on January 30, 2020. WHO rapidly scaled up its response including through its 149 country offices to support Member States prepare for and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. This article describes the frontline role of the WHO Country Offices (WCOs) and demonstrates that WHO utilized its existing country presence to deliver its global program of work during this unprecedented emergency. Using data collected from the 2020 WHO COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan monitoring and evaluation framework assessments, plus data collected in a quantitative survey completed by 149 WCOs during 2020, this article describes how WHO supported national authorities and partners through leadership, policy dialogue, strategic support, technical assistance, and service delivery, in line with WHO's current 5-year strategic plan, the WHO 13th General Programme of Work 2019–2023. Country level case studies were used to further illustrate actions taken by WCOs. WHO's achievements notwithstanding, the Organization faced several key challenges in the first year of the response. Recommendations to enhance WHO presence in countries for future emergency prevention, preparedness and response, from several independent reviews, were presented to the World Health Assembly in May 2021 and relevant recommendations are presented in this article.

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