10. The mission of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme (WHE) is to help countries, and to coordinate international action, to prevent, prepare for, detect, rapidly respond to, and recover from outbreaks and emergencies.
20. The WHO Health Emergencies Programme, in support of Member States and affected populations, aims to ensure:
- all countries are equipped to mitigate risks from high-threat infectious hazards
- all countries assess and address critical gaps in preparedness for health emergencies, including in core capacities under the International Health Regulations (2005) and in capacities for all-hazard health emergency risk management
- health events are detected and risks are assessed and communicated for appropriate action
- populations affected by health emergencies have access to essential life-saving health services and public health interventions
- national emergency programmes are supported by a well-resourced and efficient WHO Health Emergencies Programme.
30. The WHO Health Emergencies Programme operates under the following major principles:
(a) Single Programme across all 3 levels and all 7 major offices with one workforce, one budget and one line of accountability
The WHO Health Emergencies Programme is a single programme with a common structure across all three levels of the Organization to optimize WHO operations, coordination and information flow across the Organization and with partners.
A single, common results framework has been developed for the new Programme to standardize planning, budgeting, staffing, monitoring and feedback across all seven major offices and all WHO country offices. The results framework reflects each of the major functions (and structure) of the Programme, articulates the major outcomes and outputs, and serves as the basis for a single budget and staff workplan.
(b) One set of processes and systems, and one set of benchmarks
A standardized, streamlined set of tools, Standard Operating Procedures and performance standards facilitate the day-to-day management of operations during emergencies. Operational standards are closely aligned with the processes already in use by the wider humanitarian system to allow the WHO Health Emergencies Programme to work more effectively with its partners.
(c) Single approach for all events and emergencies
The WHO Health Emergencies Programme adopts an all-hazards approach to respond to all public health events and emergencies with health consequences. A single protocol for risk assessment, grading of emergencies and incident management is applied to all events and emergencies.
(d) Leverage & facilitate UN, partners & disaster management systems
The WHO Health Emergencies Programme (WHE) leverages the strengths of existing UN agencies, external partners and international disaster management systems to optimize its emergency work. WHE has several partner mechanisms to strengthen international cooperation, such as the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN), the Emergency Medical Teams (EMT), and the Global Health Cluster which WHO leads.
(e) Optimize effectiveness through global presence
The WHO Health Emergencies Programme optimizes effectiveness through its presence at headquarters, regional and country levels.
(f) Operate across the emergency management cycle
The WHO Health Emergencies Programme covers the full emergency management cycle: prevention, preparedness, response and early recovery.
