Joint External Evaluation-Development and Scale-Up of Global Multisectoral Health Capacity Evaluation Process.

Elizabeth Bell,Karen Sliter,Jose Fernandez,The Cdc Jee Team And Who Geneva Jee Secretariat ,Guenael Rodier,Maureen Bartee,Jordan W Tappero,Kashef Ijaz,Simo Nikkari,Hamid Jafari,Stella Chungong,Hannah Burris

doi:10.3201/eid2313.170949

Abstract

The Joint External Evaluation (JEE), a consolidation of the World Health Organization (WHO) International Health Regulations 2005 (IHR 2005) Monitoring and Evaluation Framework and the Global Health Security Agenda country assessment tool, is an objective, voluntary, independent peer-to-peer multisectoral assessment of a country’s health security preparedness and response capacity across 19 IHR technical areas. WHO approved the standardized JEE tool in February 2016. The JEE process is wholly transparent; countries request a JEE and are encouraged to make its findings public. Donors (e.g., member states, public and private partners, and other public health institutions) can support countries in addressing identified JEE gaps, and implementing country-led national action plans for health security. Through July 2017, 52 JEEs were completed, and 25 more countries were scheduled across WHO’s 6 regions. JEEs facilitate progress toward IHR 2005 implementation, thereby building trust and mutual accountability among countries to detect and respond to public health threats.

Highlights

The completion of 52 Joint External Evaluation (JEE) and the planning of 25 additional JEEs provide evidence for growing support and interest by World Health Organization (WHO) member states to volunteer for the JEEs
WHO has obtained systematic feedback from participants on JEE teams related to the tool’s technical limitations and challenges associated with interpretation and scoring related to overlapping technical areas
WHO convened a consultation during April 19–21, 2017, involving relevant multisectoral partners and agency representatives, including member state partners who have undergone JEEs, to obtain recommendations to address these limitations and challenges

Summary

Introduction

In February 2016, the WHO Secretariat and partners approved the consolidated voluntary JEE tool as part of the IHR Monitoring and Evaluation Framework (IHRMEF) across 19 core preparedness and response capacities for infectious disease, chemical, radiologic, and nuclear threats (10) (Table). *The JEE tool incorporates all elements of the IHR 2005 (2) and the Global Health Security Agenda (https://www.ghsagenda.org/) assessment tool to evaluate a country’s capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to public health risks across 19 technical areas.

Results

Conclusion