WHO and Emergency Preparedness at Global Level
Department of Emergency and Humanitarian Action, WHO
Emergencies as tests
In her speech at the 52nd World Health Assembly, Dr
Brundtland stated that “at an international level, there is a
need to improve the collective capacity for humanitarian
assistance and response to complex emergencies when
national health systems cannot cope…"1
In 2000, there were 41 UN Consolidated Appeals. They
covered different natural and man-made emergencies
distributed in 32 countries. Only two of these countries,
Madagascar and Mozambique, albeit poor, enjoy a degree of
political stability. The others, including seven in Europe, are
passing through war or post-conflict transitions.
Taking a wider view, information available on Relief Web
suggests that at least 73 out of the World's 199 countries and
territories move along an ideal "spectrum of instability" that
goes from situations of difficult socio-economic transition to
full-blown complex emergencies. And complex emergencies,
although difficult to manage, are easy to predict. Natural
disasters are another affair: they may occur along predictable
patterns, but they are mostly sudden and "unexpected".
Between January 1998 and August 2000, 90 countries were
affected by major natural calamities.
Emergencies challenge WHO's action
for global health priorities: new
strategies and new approaches, greater
resources and skills are needed to
control malaria, make pregnancy safer
or eradicate polio in countries at war or
affected by major natural disasters.
Emergencies test WHO's technical
cooperation with countries: are our
programmes forward-looking and strong
enough to foresee and withstand the
impact of natural disasters or socioeconomic crises? Are we helping our
national partners have a peer-to-peer
collaboration with international health
relief workers?
Emergencies test WHO's
commitment to its constituents: are
WHO country offices prepared and
ready to assist the national authorities
and the communities at the moment of
greatest need? Are we present in spite
of the difficult circumstances? Are we
perceived as useful by our partners?
Emergencies test WHO's technical
and managerial capacities: are our
knowledge relevant and our leadership
recognized, are we effective
irrespectively of the circumstances?
Are we fully aware and informed about
the world where we are operating? Are
our plans realistic? Are our procedures
adequate?
(WHO/EHA, 2000)
There is growing consensus that the distinction between
natural and human-induced disasters is artificial. There are no
"natural" disasters: there are natural hazards, which impact
upon human vulnerabilities that are mostly determined by
human causes. In this sense, all disasters have political
causes: either by commission or by omission, disasters reflect the ways societies structure
themselves and allocate their resources (Kent, 1997). And this applies to the local level as well as
to the national and the international levels. Social inequalities and economic downturns heighten
vulnerability to natural disasters; fast changes in social structures can engender new hazards.
1
"Looking Ahead for WHO - After a Year of Change", WHA 52, Geneva May 1999
1
Economic development increases the threat of technological disasters. The interaction of social,
natural and technological hazards can trigger off an emergency whenever a country lacks the
capacity to cope.
In an emergency, health is always called to respond: sometimes to lead, e.g. in the case of an
epidemic, more often to provide essential back-up, e.g. in rescue operations after an earthquake.
The health sector and the ministries of health have the most challenging and visible responsibilities
in the response during disasters. Failure on their part is particularly costly, not only in terms of
lives lost, but also technically and politically.
Within WHO, there is now solid consensus that emergency preparedness and response are core
functions of the Organization2 and one key priority of WHO's programme budget of 2000 and 2001
is “getting better at responding to increasingly diverse kinds of emergencies and humanitarian
crisis…"
Preparedness
"Getting better at responding" means getting prepared. There
are many definitions of preparedness, that range from
illustrating an individual state of mind to describing a set of
institutional objectives or capacities (see boxes). For working
purpose, this paper defines preparedness as the set of
measures that ensure the organized mobilization of
personnel, funds, equipment and supplies within a safe
environment for effective relief, with a deliberate stress on
the word "safe".
This paper also contends that being prepared for emergencies
is simply good management. Are we fully informed about the
world where we are operating? Are our plans realistic? Are
our procedures adequate? Are our programmes strong enough
to withstand a crisis?
Definitions
Preparedness: “Activities designed to
minimize loss of life and damage, to
organize the temporary removal of
people and property from a threatened
location and facilitate timely and
effective rescue, relief and
rehabilitation” (OCHA, 2000)
“Disaster preparedness is an ongoing,
multisectoral activity, whose objective is
to ensure that appropriate systems,
procedures and resources are in place
to provide prompt, effective assistance
to disaster victims, thus facilitating relief
measures and rehabilitation of services”
(PAHO, 2000)
Responsibility for emergency management and, therefore, for preparedness lies with the local,
national and regional authorities. Levels of preparedness vary between regions and between
countries. Preparedness requires long processes, institutional stability and capital investment. All
commodities that can be rare in new or developing countries. While both beneficiaries and
humanitarian agencies acknowledge the importance of preparedness, few have the resources to
make a significant investment3. In spite of the many initiatives born under the International
Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) international funding for disaster
prevention/mitigation has been slow in materializing and not necessarily focused on preparedness.
At least much slower and less focused than that for humanitarian response. With few notable
exceptions - e.g. WHO/PAHO - only recently have indigenous efforts at preparedness been given
international support.
2
Summary of Discussions of Second Meeting of the Global Programme Management Group Item 5: Emergency and
Humanitarian Assistance Geneva, 17 March 2000
3
The Preparedness Challenge in Humanitarian Assistance, Center for International Cooperation with Lester
Salamon & Associates, New York University, 1999.
2
The experience is that for a national effort at preparedness to be sustainable and successful, the
responsible institution - be it the Prime Minister Office, the National Prevention and Relief
Agency, the Ministry of Health, etc. - must have credibility vis-à-vis the public, and among the
other national institutions. There is no quick-fix technology for emergency preparedness, which is
essentially a process of investment in people and institutions. Political credibility and momentum
(and budget guarantees, see below) are essential for a programme to have enough continuity and
stability to induce positive changes.
As far as WHO regions are concerned, AMRO/PAHO's preparedness programme has been ongoing
for over 20 years now, and gives WHO the primacy of the oldest initiative aimed at developing
national capacities in this domain. As far as the other regions are concerned:

Preparedness as a statement of capacities
Preparedness implies:
1. Having the information on the risk of
disaster and its determinants;
2. Having the mandate and the institutional
framework to decide and operate;
3. Having in place the structures: focal points
for decision, human resources, supplies,
equipment and facilities for operations and
referral, buffer stocks and backup systems,
lifelines;
4. Havin in place early warning systems,
contingency plans, procedures for prompt
response and having them up-to-date
through training and rehearsals;
5. Having partners available: through
common language and values, through
education and information, networking and
coordination.
(WHO/EHA)




EURO adopted a resolution on the International
Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction in 1989;
SEARO Regional Committee adopted a
resolution on Disaster Preparedness in 1989;
AFRO adopted a resolution on Natural Disaster
Reduction in 1990;
EMRO adopted a resolution on Emergency
Preparedness and Relief Operations in the Case of
Natural Disasters in 1990;
WPRO Regional Committee adopted a resolution
on the Health Aspects of Emergency
Preparedness in 1990.
These resolutions were followed up by others,
reflecting the international trends and debate on
disaster reduction and humanitarian assistance.
Relevant WHO activities and programmes were
launched and are on-going in all regions. All in all, though, the level of capacities for emergency
preparedness - within and outside the health sector - tends to reflect more the economical
development and political stability of each country rather than its needs in terms of disaster risk.
Health preparedness as an operational system
A preparedness system must ensure that inputs such as information (technical and contextual) and resources (human
and material) pass through the structures and the institutional arrangements that transform them into outputs, that are
essentially capability, for prompt and effective response.
(WHO/EHA)
Preparedness as a core WHO's function
Servicing Member Countries
All societies and countries are susceptible to disasters, but by the very nature of WHO, those
countries where the Organization has a stronger presence and higher visibility are also those that
are more vulnerable. Therefore, fostering emergency preparedness must be a key objective of
WHO strategies for technical cooperation with member countries. In Dr Brundtland's words,
"WHO’s ultimate goal is to increase the self-reliance of its member countries... WHO wants them
3
to be more resilient during a crisis, capable to absorb humanitarian assistance without being
overwhelmed by it and then, once the crisis is over to move towards a recovery that takes full
advantage of the lessons learnt."4
Long-term presence in countries gives WHO an advantage in understanding the context in which
disasters take place and their real impact on people’s health. For WHO, preparedness means
building local health capacity to respond efficiently5. Preparedness is a time-consuming activity. It
is also difficult, as it must be sustained in spite of competing priorities on the basis of simple
forethought: "What if?” On the other hand, it would be short-sighted for a development agency to
run the risk to have to spend millions of dollars for humanitarian relief without committing itself to
improve the local capacities to prevent and prepare for disasters.
Disaster reduction needs to be seen as a core function of the Ministry of Health that should
establish a programme or department with specific responsibility for the health aspects of disaster
reduction. This programme must coordinate with the national institution responsible for overall
disaster management (Civil Protection or other) and other relevant actors in the public and private
sectors6.
Preparedness measures go from formulating
disaster response plans for the health sector to
developing national human resources: preparing
training material, holding courses, meetings,
collaboration with universities, etc.
As
preparedness can be futile if, when a disaster
occurs, hospitals collapse when they are most
needed, preparedness must be integrated by
mitigation measures protecting health and healthrelated (e.g. water) infrastructures.
Health preparedness as a process of development
1. Understanding the epidemiology of disasters and
the role of the health sector therein;
2. Contributing to inter-sectoral policies and plans
3. Formulating a health master plan integrated in
the national disaster plan;
4. Supporting the health master plan with:

Risk assessment

Easily-accessible institutional memory

Specific contingency plans

Research and adjustments to technical
programmes

Education and mobilization to awareness

Training

Information, communication and logistics
systems

Stockpiles

Protected backups and reference systems

Funds

Procedures and agreements

Managerial capacities
(WHO/EHA)
In order to support national preparedness, all WHO
country/liaison offices - at least all those sited in
highly vulnerable countries - should have a
dedicated staff member, a focal point, tasked with
all matters related to disaster reduction. This
function is of a coordinating nature: supporting the
national programme, building institutional
memory, technical liaison with other agencies, etc. All other WHO country staff need to be aware
that reducing vulnerability to disasters is everyone's responsibility in his/her area of competence
and not the reserved domain of the ‘focal point’. Disaster mitigation and preparedness, in turn,
provide opportunities to promote all health priorities and programmes in an inter-sectoral context.
This network of country focal points needs the support of a regional unit. A team of at least three
staff can lobby with country offices, ministries of health and donors on the need for disaster
reduction and for WHO's leadership in this area, prepare material to support national training,
4
Key note address: Consultation on Planning Ahead for the Health Impact of Complex Emergencies, WHOGeneva, 13-14 December 1999
5
Emergency and Humanitarian Action Disasters, Emergencies and WHO, Paper presented at the second meeting of WHO
GMPG, March 2000-Geneva
6
Emergency and Humanitarian Action, ibid;
4
promote mitigation in health facilities, mobilize resources for regional and country activities. As
disaster reduction is a core responsibility of the whole Organization – not just a technical area
among others - the team should work so that all regional departments/programmes formulate a
mission statement on their specific role in disaster reduction.
Preparedness as a set of managerial measures
Contingency arrangements: to ensure that the human and material resources are readily available:
 Scenarios setting and contingency planning process
 Training emergency support staff and standby personnel
 Creating ready access to relief supplies in the form of stockpiles or stand-by arrangements
with suppliers
 Standby arrangements for transport
 Research and development (tailored kits, appropriate water technologies, etc.)
 Fundraising plans and cultivating relationships with key actors (UN, donors, NGOs)
 Pre-positioning of materials in areas of risk
 Pre-establishing protocols and organizational support for needs assessment and response teams
a) Situations monitoring & needs assessment: to identify crisis situations before they become critical
and to define an appropriate response:
 Surveying of areas of risk
 Identifying sites for assessment work
 Deploying need assessment teams
 Establishing adequate early communications about conditions as they develop
 Maintaining situation monitoring personnel and equipment in the field
 Developing appropriate response
b) Initial response consists of the mobilization and deployment of personnel, equipment, and materials to
the crisis site:
 Activating funding arrangements, stand-by personnel and supply arrangements
 Mobilizing and deploying permanent and stand-by personnel
 Hiring local personnel as required
 Establishing an operations site with logistics and communication systems
 Delivering emergency goods
 Coordinating response with other humanitarian agencies
Source: The Preparedness Challenge in Humanitarian Assistance, Center on International Cooperation with Lester Salamon
and Associates, New York University, October 1999
Preparing WHO to respond
Presence at country level and in general accountability vis-à-vis its constituents, the member
countries, implies that WHO must not only build national capacities, but also be ready to provide
services and an example when an emergency occurs. Disasters are occurrences that any WHO
office may have to face, at any moment, and emergencies test WHO's commitment to its main
partners: are we ready to assist the countries at the moment of greatest need? Are we up to the
standards of preparedness that we preach? Are we present in spite of the difficult circumstances?
Are we perceived as useful?
WHO’s goal in humanitarian response is to limit excess death and suffering from the preventable
causes that originate from the disaster, immediately and at medium term. WHO’s function in
emergency is life-saving and as such deserves to be acknowledged. But this responsibility implies
that WHO needs to be prepared to react quickly to counter the primary impact of the event while at
the same time plan to counter its secondary effects. There is consensus that this is best achieved by
ensuring rapid health assessment, and then information flow (epidemiological and nutritional
surveillance, etc.) and health coordination from the onset of the emergency to the reconstruction
phase.
5
Credibility is crucial. The experience is that the ability of WHO to lead and to coordinate after a
disaster depends directly from its leadership in preparedness before the emergency. Pro-active
involvement in prevention and preparedness is the best way to gain credibility from the many actors
outside the ministry of health, and this credibility with other agencies is the best asset that WHO
can bring to the ministry of health in a crisis.
Predictability is crucial too: the debate started in 1997 on the role of WHO in complex
emergencies7 was instrumental in defining the Organization's strategy and practice in Emergency
and Humanitarian Action. The times are now ripe for another exercise: WHO must define the
public health priorities that are critical to its corporate strategy, the products that the Organization
must be ready to deliver anywhere in an emergency and define the appropriate delivery
mechanisms. In most of member countries, these Core Corporate Commitments will be delivered
by the country office (the first one, arguably, being the safety and operationality of its staff). In
other circumstances, e.g. such as those prevailing in EURO, they may have to be guaranteed
through the National Liaison Officer. In either scenario, country and regional offices need
appropriate delegation of authority supported by decentralized administrative procedures.
Early presence is the third critical requirement. WHO’s presence in the first few days, or even
hours of relief operations, sets the pattern for the reconstruction phase8. Early presence implies
operational readiness, that is a statement of preparedness and professional competence qualified in
terms of time. It is also strictly related to issues of information, communications, logistics and
administrative procedures.
It is difficult to draw precise distinctions between relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction. In some
circumstances, WHO staff and programmes involved in preparedness or relief may be forced to
maintain responsibility also in the early phase of rehabilitation. Nonetheless, "preparedness" plans
should include exit strategies, allowing for a hand over to other WHO technical programmes at the
earliest possible stage. Building this consensus and defining appropriate arrangements and
procedures are part of preparedness activities.
At WHO Headquarters in Geneva, the Department of Emergency and Humanitarian Action (EHA)
has the responsibility of facilitating regional and country preparedness and response, at global
level. EHA’s function is essentially coordination, with a focus that is both developmental and
relief-oriented.
A team of Emergency Health Partnership (EHP) complements and strengthens resources and
capabilities of regional and country offices according to their needs. EHP activities include:
 Coordinating and conducting rapid health assessments;
 Mobilizing WHO’s technical departments and external partners for the delivery of essential
life-saving interventions;
 Assisting in the mobilization of external resources for emergency in line with WHO’s
corporate priorities;
 Providing technical and logistic back-stopping;
 Facilitating coordination between national and international humanitarian actors, so to ensure
that field operations are in line with best public health practices.
7
Consultation with Donors and Collaborating Agencies on the Role of WHO in Complex Emergencies, WHO,
Geneva, March 1997
8
Summary of Discussions of Second Meeting, ibid;
6
A team for Emergency Health Intelligence and Capacity Building (EHC) collects and produces
evidence for strategic and operational preparedness and for consolidation of best public health
practices in humanitarian action. EHC activities include:
 Managing information and producing health intelligence;
 Documenting lessons learnt, consolidating and communicating norms, best public health
practices for disaster reduction;
 Building competencies for disaster reduction within WHO;
 Collaborating with specialized centres and academic institutions for training and research in
emergency health management.
The Office of the Director ensures overall coordination, mobilizes and administers EHA’s core
resources. Its activities include:
 Formulating global policies and strategies in consultation with regional offices, other WHO
departments and international humanitarian partners;
 Ensuring regular and extra-budgetary funding for EHA core functions;
 Ensuring accountability and transparency vis-à-vis partners
 Representing WHO in the Inter-Agency Standing Committee and other fora.
Capacity for emergency management has been defined as resulting from a combination of
information, authority, institutions and structures, plans, resources and procedures to mobilize
them, and partnerships9. In this perspective, the global role of WHO/HQ in preparedness can be
seen as:

Information
WHO monitors countries according to their disaster-risk. EHA gathers, analyzes and
disseminates health information on countries at risk and emergency-affected populations. Indepth profiles are established for priority areas, for advanced planning and better targeted
preparedness and response activities. Information is disseminated within WHO on healthrelevant emergency issues, and, externally, on WHO's initiatives that are relevant for disaster
reduction and emergency management. EHA can also assist regional and country offices with
technical expertise in the area of information management for disaster reduction, preparedness
and response.

Authority
At Headquarters, EHA works with and for WHO's senior management, and through the
Governing Bodies, at having emergency preparedness and response recognized as core
functions of WHO. Outside the Organization, EHA's advocacy concentrates on having health
recognized as The cross-sectoral issue, the true "objective and yardstick of success of disaster
reduction". Both lines of work are critical in order to ensure the political recognition, the
resources, structures and institutional framework needed for emergency management.

Structures
EHA's structure in Geneva reflects WHO's Corporate Strategy, its core functions and the
managerial requirements, some of them general and some fairly specific, e.g. the Department's
strong dependency on extra-budgetary support. EHA's views on structures for regional and
country preparedness have been mentioned above. The bottom line is that WHO can only be as
good as its country offices, that it is the country level that must respond and that must be
9
WHO/EHA, Planning for Emergencies, unpublished draft, 1995
7
prepared. From Geneva, EHA can bring into play its own additional inputs, plus those of
WHO technical departments, other regional offices, collaborating centres, etc. In this manner,
the expertise of the entire Organization can be mobilized to serve the country offices for
disaster reduction through a fairly flexible structure. Meanwhile, through the Inter-Agency
Standing Committee (IASC) and the UN Country Teams, the UN System of Humanitarian
Resident/Coordinators provides a fair global institutional framework of reference for WHO
action in disaster reduction, be it prevention, preparedness, relief or rehabilitation. A special
task - and a challenge - for WHO is to have the national health authorities empowered for a
constructive dialogue with the many international humanitarian actors: for instance, in order to
minimize the risk of having parallel health care structures established during emergencies.


10
Plans
Concrete planning for the preparedness of member countries can only be left with WHO
country and regional offices. From Geneva, EHA's main role is to identify options and
facilitate consensus: strategic consensus on what would be the best modus operandi for the
Organization in vulnerable countries, as well technical consensus on what should be WHO's
core corporate commitments. This
means ensuring that the other
Competencies building: the needs across WHO
technical departments identify the
WHO can only be as good as its country offices. That is where
core global priorities that must be
Knowledge Utilisation takes place. WHO representatives (WRs) are
the key link between the Organization's technical expertise and the
maintained in spite of emergencies,
member countries. Without being specialists, they need to be aware of
and are responsive to the needs of
the full range of public health issues that can face a country and be
the country offices in situation of
able to mobilize support as needed.
emergency. EHA can also assist
As disaster reduction is a core function of WHO, EHA staff at
regional or country offices with
country, regional and headquarters level must know how to dialogue
with the WRs, contribute to their awareness of the issues at play and
state-of-the-art tools for planning
provide adequate and consistent response to their needs. A network
and evaluation, and advocacy with
of focal points in other WHO departments, in collaborating centres,
operational partners.
etc, in turn, provides EHA staff with additional, specific technical
inputs as needed. In this manner, the expertise of the entire
Organization can be mobilized to serve the country offices for
disaster reduction.
Resources
Financially, the same as for any
This requires common views on public health priorities in disasters,
other process of development,
precise information on what WHO can deliver ("Core Corporate
preparedness needs an initial
Commitments"), clear lines of communication, capacity for team
work and interpersonal skills. Any ideal model, though, has to take
investment to bear any fruit. There
into account the different backgrounds of the individuals involved,
are fixed and variable costs to the
the turn-over of staff, the working plans and dynamics of offices,
departments and clusters at all levels of WHO, as well as the
development of each component of
constant progress in the disciplines involved and the changes in the
preparedness10. As far as fixed costs
external environment.
are concerned, ultimately, it is up to
(WHO/EHA)
the member countries - both
individually and
collectively,
through WHO's Governing Bodies to decide where resources should come from, once that emergency preparedness and response
are recognised as core functions of the Organization. The experience is that while the UN
Consolidated Appeal Process can provide WHO with opportunities for extra-budgetary funding
for response, funds for preparedness are more easily mobilized at country or at regional level,
and better in the context of a programme rather than through projects. At HQ level, EHA and
its regional counterparts already have a dialogue on-going with WHO's Global Management
The Preparedness Challenge in Humanitarian Assistance, ibid;
8
Group aimed at ensuring the share of regular budget that alone can guarantee continuity and
programme stability and, ultimately, success. For variable costs, prompt availability of
operational funds is one essential element of readiness. The arrangements that EHA has with
some donors' response funds and with the Director General's Revolving Fund represent
mechanisms that can integrate regional efforts. Additional avenues could be looked for through
the re-deployment of capacities, either in-house, e.g. between different WHO regions or by
stand-by agreements with donors.

At HQ, EHA can only have a role in training and building up human resources that is
complementary to that of the regional offices. Nonetheless, networking on structures, technical
messages and procedures within the Organization carry spin-offs in terms of human capabilities
that should not be underrated. Another set of resources, technical knowledge on emergency
health management, is produced constantly and at HQ it is EHA's task to sort it out, consolidate
and disseminate it. In collaboration with regional offices, technical departments within WHO
and external partners, applied research in health in emergencies, the preparation and/or
selection of emergency health guidelines, information, education and training material can only
be continuous open-ended processes. The Emergency Health Library Kit and the CD-ROM
that is being produced together with PAHO/PED represent two concrete products in this line of
preparedness.

Procedures
Procedures are very much the key of emergency management. Technical procedures as
appropriate to the special circumstances, minimum standards and public health protocols, e.g.
for assessment of needs or case management constitute the bulk of the knowledge mentioned
above. Another key set of emergency procedures deals with administrative and financial
matters. Organizational rigidity is seen as a major constraint weighing upon WHO's
preparedness. The WHO Manual was revised in 1996, but this doesn't seem to have had the
expected results, yet. Also rules/regulations are poorly understood, and may not be such
obstacles as imagined 11. Working on these issues on the basis of its own experience and acting
as a channel between regional offices and senior management are other EHA's tasks in Geneva.

Partnerships
From WHO's perspective, the most interesting partnerships are probably those that concretise
between different countries. At global level, EHA follows with interest those that are
developing between different regional offices; e.g. there is increasing evidence of successful
joint regional efforts in training. Dialogue and joint competencies building with the other
technical departments at WHO/HQ is definitely another type of partnership that deserves
developing. Daily dialogue with donors and EHA's participation in the Inter-Agency Standing
Committee is also an essential aspect of WHO's partnerships in the domain of disaster
reduction and humanitarian assistance: improving bilateral understanding and interagency
coordination can only facilitate preparedness. WHO's partnerships for emergency preparedness
and response are supported by Memoranda of Understanding with UNHCR, the Norwegian
Refugee Council and IOM; other memoranda are under discussion with the UNDP/Emergency
Response Division, the ICRC, UNICEF, and WFP.
The main partners - and constituents - of WHO remain the Member States. Emergency
preparedness and response are core functions of WHO. The challenge for the Organization is how
11
Summary of Discussions of Second Meeting, ibid;
9
to be prepared in a fast-changing environment while at the same time sharing and preparing the
national counterparts. Adequate health response to emergencies demands that WHO invests in
effective presence and preparedness. The WHO country offices and programmes are fundamental
to such preparedness and need to be supported by the corporate effort of the entire Organization.
WHO’s core commitments in emergency response
Goal: to reduce avoidable loss of life, burden of disease and disability in emergencies
and post-crisis transitions by:

Ensuring the presence and operational capacity in the field to strengthen
coordinated public health management for optimal immediate impact, collective
learning and health sector accountability.

Identifying priority health and nutrition-related issues and ensure these are properly
addressed in an integrated primary health care approach that preserves and
strengthens local health system.

Strengthening health and nutrition surveillance systems to enable monitoring of any
changes, early warning of deterioration and immediate life-saving action through
outbreak response and technically sound nutrition interventions.

Ensuring control of preventable ill health particularly communicable and vaccinepreventable diseases.

Ensuring that risks related to the environment are recognized and properly managed.

Ensuring good quality and access to basic preventive and curative care including
essential drugs and vaccines for all, with special focus on the especially vulnerable –
the elderly, the very young, the pregnant women, the disabled and the chronically ill.

Ensuring the Humanitarian Health Assistance is in line with international standards,
local priorities and does not compromise future health development.

Advocating and negotiating for secure humanitarian access and neutrality and
protection of health workers, services and structures as integral parts of public health
promotion.

Ensuring that lessons learned in a crisis are used to improve health sector
preparedness for future crisis and disaster reduction.
WHO-EHA/EHC-13/09/00
10