Facilitating IHR implementation

Co-leaders: Italy (ISS), WHO-GCR

Team members: Albania (IPH), Bulgaria (NCIPD), Cyprus (MoH), Greece (HCDCP/KEELPNO), Israel (MoH), Jordan (MoH), Morocco (MoH), SEEHN, Slovenia (NIPH/IVZ), Tunisia (MoH)

Background:

In order to increase health security in the Mediterranean Area and Balkans, it is necessary to enhance preparedness, detection and response capacity at national/regional levels to face threats to public health. The framework of the International Health Regulations (IHR) 2005 is particularly useful in this effect because it is not only legally binding for all EpiSouth partners but it also lists core capacities that need to be met, detailing a mechanism for information exchange and response collaboration under the umbrella of WHO.

Implementation of IHR core capacities is currently taking place throughout the Region and should be completed by 2012.

Countries are facing diverse and common challenges in implementation and can benefit from the exchange of experiences. In this context a collaborative framework such as EpiSouth can be useful is exchanging problems and solutions.

Objectives:

To increase the health security in the Mediterranean Area and South East Europe by facilitating the IHR implementation at national and regional levels.

Activities:

Identify common capacities that need to be acquired or strengthened by EpiSouth countries
Develop guidelines for the acquisition of identified priority capacities.
Support the activities of other working groups by assessing, through a jointly designed survey, needs and constraints encountered by countries.
Build a strategic document which will i) propose procedures to improve the performance of priority functions required by IHR in the Mediterranean, ii) present a progress report on IHR implementation status between start and end of project, iii) describe how the project has contributed to their acquisition/strengthening, and iv) highlight differences, if any, in IHR implementation between federal countries and central governments, presenting solutions adopted in specific contexts and that could be beneficial to other countries in the region.

These activities will be performed through a review of literature, analysis of IHR assessments, two complementary surveys and three workshops