The 74th World Health Assembly has just ended. All plenary sessions were open to be viewed on the WHO website. In this article Nigeria Health Watch's Kemisola Agbaoye revisits some of the discussions around pandemic preparedness and response, and the potential implications for Nigeria.
Given the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact it has had on the world, it has become critical that every citizen is aware of the International Health Regulations (IHR) 2005 and what it means for us. The IHR identifies health-related events that each State Party (country) signs up to and is bound by these regulations to report to the World Health Organisation (WHO). It provides guidance on prevention, detection, and response to public health emergencies with the potential for international spread to the 198 World Health Organisation (WHO) member states.
The IHR 2005 is a legally binding instrument that consists of 66 articles, including communication and coordination mechanisms and activities between WHO and states parties, roles and responsibilities of WHO and IHR National Focal Points (NFPs) in member states, and disease surveillance and responses activities required in-country and at points of entry. It also specifies the core capacities that countries must have to fulfil these functions. One of the major objectives of the IHR, is to control the spread of a severe public health threat, such as COVID-19, while avoiding unnecessary interference with international traffic and trade. Given the events of the last year and a half, it has come under immense scrutiny on its sufficiency to meet its desired objectives.
The COVID-19 pandemic has posed the most significant threat to human life and livelihoods in recent times. This has necessitated widespread restrictions to international traffic and trade with the institution of travel bans and lockdowns to mitigate its spread. How did the IHR 2005 function in this pandemic? How did countries and WHO adhere to the provisions of the IHR? Were the provisions in the IHR sufficient to prevent, detect and respond to the pandemic?
To answer these questions, the WHO convened two important committees to assess both the performance of the IHR, but also the performance of the WHO and its member states in responding to the pandemic. The first committee is the IHR expert review committee whose mandate was to review the functioning of the IHR during the COVID-19 response. The second committee is an independent panel of experts set up to review the spread, actions and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. The panel was tasked with providing evidence-based recommendations to ensure that countries and global health institutions including the WHO, are better prepared to address health threats.