A WHO staff member walks down a dirt path in a neighborhood in Lao PDR
Providing core services during health emergencies
The WHO Health Emergencies Programme Regional Emergency Stockpile continues to operate to support Member States to rapidly deploy supplies in response to public health emergencies including disasters and disease outbreaks. For many Member States, the stockpile is an essential lifeline and a reliable source of emergency supplies. The Regional Emergency Stockpile located in Manila, Philippines, stocks life-saving supplies including:
- Personal protective equipment to support health care workers;
- Biomedical equipment including ventilators, oxygen concentrators, and patient monitors to strengthen health care facilities;
- Laboratory consumables to support disease surveillance and detection;
- Emergency health kits and water sanitation and hygiene (WASH) supplies rapidly deployed to support the scale up of a national response; and
- Medicines, including Oseltamivir, to respond to specific diseases.
From floods in the Mekong region, to cyclones and typhoons in the Pacific, the Regional Emergency Stockpile has been essential in response efforts during disasters and outbreaks. Rapid response is critical to reduce preventable mortality and morbidity and therefore speed is of the essence. Charter planes have been contracted to deploy lifesaving supplies throughout the Region including to countries such as Fiji, Mongolia, Samoa, Tokelau and Vanuatu.
WHO also supports Member States in the Region to ensure domestic access to medical oxygen. Many countries did not have the capacity to manufacture medical oxygen domestically and therefore were fully dependent on importing this critical medicine from neighbouring countries.
Additionally, WHO supports Member States through many capacity building activities to develop core capacities for emergency preparedness, readiness and response in line with, and beyond, the International Health Regulations (2005) requirements. Ready4Response, a comprehensive training programme providing baseline knowledge of emergency response management, targeting healthcare workers and responders at all levels, has trained over 3000 people across the Region and globally.
