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Functional Simulation Exercise on Functionality of National Public Health Emergency Operations Centers in the African
Senait Tekeste Fekadu1, Abrham Lilay Gebrewahid1, Mary Stephen1
1Senait Tekeste Fekadu, MPH, MBA, is Unit Lead, Health Information and Risk Assessment; Abrham Lilay Gebrewahid, MPH, is an Emergency Management Specialist; Mary Stephen, MPH, is a Public Health Expert and Acting World Health Organization (WHO) Country Representative, Lesotho; Yan Kawe, MSc, is an Officer, Emergency Operations Center; Zewdu Assefa, MPH, is the Flagship Coordinator and Public Health Emergency of Concern (PHEOC) Officer; Olaolu Aderinola, MBBS, MPH, is a PHEOC Support Officer; Alle Baba Dieng, MSc, is Health Cluster Coordinator; Otim Patrick Ramadan, MBChB, MPH, is Team Lead, Acute Events Management; Alice Lado, MBBS, MPH, is a Technical Officer, Preparedness in Humanitarian Emergencies; Allan Mpairwe, MPH, is a Technical Officer, Risk Management and Preparedness; Erika Garcia, MPH, is a Technical Officer, Readiness; Ishata N. Conteh, MPH, PhD, Team Lead, Emergency Management Support; Fiona Braka, MD, MPH, is Program Manager; and Abdou Salam Gueye, MD, MPH, PhD, is Regional Emergency Director; all in Emergency Preparedness and Response, World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa, Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo. Ibrahima Sonko, MD, MPH-FETP, is a Technical Officer, Mathew T. M. Kol, PhD, MPH, is Principal Program Officer, Womi Eteng, MPH, MSc, MBA, is a Technical Officer, Merawi Aragaw, MD, MPH, is Head of Division, Division of Emergency Preparedness and Response; and Wessam Mankoula, MPP, is Regional Director, North Africa Regional Collaborating Center; all at the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Liz McGinley, MSc, PhD, is Emergency Preparedness Manager; Emily Collard is Project Manager; Tracy Ilunga, MPH, is a Project Officer; Vanessa Middlemiss, MSc, DHealth, DipEP, DipHEPRR, FEPS, is Strategic Lead; and Paul Furtado, PGCE, is Emergency Preparedness Manager; all with the International Health Regulations Strengthening Project, Emergency Preparedness, Resilience, and Response, UK Health Security Agency, London, United Kingdom. Timm Schneider, MSc, is a Physician and Research Associate, and Ariane Halm, MSc, is Deputy Head of Unit and Team Lead International Cooperation, Crisis Management Unit; both in the Infectious Disease Epidemiology Department, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany. Youssouf Kanouté, DVM, PhD, is a Technical Officer, and Jian Li, MBBS, MD, is Team Lead, Public Health Emergency Operations Centre Network (EOC-NET); both in Strategic Health Operations, Health Emergencies, Preparedness and Response, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. Chol Thabo Yur, MD, MSPH, is a Health Specialist, UNICEF Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa, Amman, Jordan. Flavia Semedo, MD, is a Health Emergency Officer, WHO Country Office, Cabo Verde, Praia, Cabo Verde. Chuck Menchion, MBA, was a Policy Team Lead, Capacity Development, Global Emergency Management, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA. Emily Rosenfeld, JD, MPH, is Team Lead, Budget, Policy, and Legislation, Office of the Associate Director for Policy, Global Health Center, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA. Virgil Lokossou, PhD, is Director, HealthCare Services, West African Health Organization, Abuja, Nigeria.
Abstract:
National public health emergency operations centers (PHEOCs) serve as hubs for coordinating information and resources for effective emergency management. In the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005) Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, a simulation exercise is 1 of 4 components that can be used to test the functionality of a country's emergency response capabilities in a simulated situation. To test the functionality of PHEOCs in World Health Organization African Region member states, a regional functional exercise simulating an Ebola virus disease outbreak was conducted. The public health actions taken in response to the simulated outbreak were evaluated against the exercise objectives. Thematic analysis was conducted to summarize key strengths and areas for improvement. From December 6 to 7, 2022, more than 1,000 representatives from 36 of the 47 African Region member states participated in the exercise from their respective PHEOCs. Approximately 95% of the 461 participants polled agreed with the positive responses to the postexercise survey. More than half of the PHEOC participants were able to test their existing emergency preparedness and response plans and became familiar with the expected roles to be fulfilled during an event. Of the participants who responded to the survey, over 90% reported that the exercise helped them understand their roles during emergency management. The exercise met its objectives and provided an opportunity to test the functionality of PHEOCs using realistic scenarios, and it helped participants understand existing response systems and procedures. However, the exercise also revealed areas for improvement in terms of the timing and preparation of participants. We recommend conducting functional exercises at the regional and national levels at least once a year, early or midyear, to allow many stakeholders to take part in the exercise. Moreover, there is a need to train country-level evaluators and controllers in designing and conducting functional exercises.
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