Definition of emergency travel
10 WHO defines emergency travel as duty travel to provide direct operational support for Graded emergencies (XVII.2.4 List of active Graded Emergencies) or unplanned/unforeseen public health events.
20 Emergency travel is not (i) travel to meetings, (ii) travel to HQ, or (iii) travel to regional offices unless the purpose is to provide surge capacity (eManual XVII.2.9 Table 1).
30 There are two types of processes for emergency travel: standard emergency deployment and exceptional emergency deployment.
Standard emergency deployment
40 In the standard emergency process, specific booking and ticketing arrangements with the travel agency CWT are made available:
- Special CWT contacts specific to emergency deployment, with a dedicated CWT e-mail address and telephone number (the special telephone line is redirected to CWT Poland outside office hours). This contact information is shared by email with the WHO emergency team.
- Visa issuance process for staff and non-staff travellers.
50 The emergency team will contact CWT using the special deployments' e-mail or telephone numbers.
60 A Travel Request (TR) for emergency travel must be at least initiated (no advance issuance deadline). It must be flagged as Emergency Travel and include the following in the remarks field:
- "EMERGENCY" + PIN code (provided monthly by WHE) in the remark field
- The name of the pre-graded event/situation or officially recognized emergency
- The country of the crisis
- EXAMPLE: EMERGENCY- ABC: CHOLERA MALAWI (+ dates of mission)
70 The TR will be approved by the Travel Quality Specialist (TQS) team as a priority.
80 If the TR is not completely approved and the ticket needs to be issued urgently, CWT will contact the WHO authorizing officers to issue the ticket (the emergency response teams nominate authorizing officers with authority to order emergency tickets 24/7).
Exceptional emergency deployment
90 In certain exceptional circumstances, tickets related to extremely urgent emergency deployment cannot be issued through the standard emergency procurement processes, such as for ticket issuance on very short notice outside standard office hours when a TR has not yet been initiated. This process should only be used when no alternative is available.
100 Included in the list of WHO authorizing officers are WHO HQ staff members (including WHE staff) who may process bookings and order tickets directly with CWT without a TR in exceptional circumstances.
110 TR must be initiated within three days from departure (no advance issuance deadline) and approved before the next working day.
Waivers for emergency travel
120 For emergency travel, the following are waived:
Waiver of advance TR approval: When travel is organized in response to a recognized emergency event, the requirement for advance TR approval is waived (VII.1.4 Travel Request, para 40).
Waiver of travel plan: TRs for emergency travel do not require the justification and approval of a travel plan (VII.1.4 Travel Request, para 50).
Blanket TR for emergency domestic travel: A single blanket TR for emergency domestic travel, in conjunction with an international TR, may be issued for a maximum period of 3 months for travel within the same country when destinations cannot be predicted in advance. The blanket TR will be issued mentioning the country name only as a destination, without city information (e.g., from India to India). The elsewhere per diem rate for the country will be used unless otherwise agreed (VII.1.4 Travel Request, para 80–81).
Waiver of business class downgrade: In the case of emergency travel, international duty travel by air that normally qualifies for business class will not be downgraded to economy class, despite the TR not being fully approved 14 calendar days before the date of departure (VII.2.1 Air Travel, para 100–101).
