Abstract
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic highlighted that managing health emergencies requires more than an effective health response, but that operationalizing a whole-of-society approach is challenging. The World Health Organization (WHO), as the lead agency for health within the United Nations (UN), led the UN response at the global level through the Crisis Management Team, and at the country level through the UN Country Teams (UNCTs) in accordance with its mandate. Three case studies—Mali, Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh, and Uzbekistan—provide examples of how WHO contributed to the whole-of-society response for COVID-19 at the country level. Interviews with WHO staff, supplemented by internal and external published reports, highlighted that the action of WHO comprised technical expertise to ensure an effective whole-of-society response and to minimize social disruption, including those affecting peacekeeping in Mali, livelihood sectors in Cox's Bazar, and the education sector in Uzbekistan. Leveraging local level volunteers from various sectors led to both a stronger public health response and the continuation of other sectoral work. Risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) emerged as a key theme for UN engagement at country level. These collective efforts of operationalizing whole-of-society response at the country level need to continue for the COVID-19 response, but also in preparedness for other health and non-health emergencies. Building resilience for future emergencies requires developing and exercising multi-sectoral preparedness plans and benefits from collective UN support to countries. Coronavirus disease had many impacts outside of health, and therefore emergency preparedness needs to occur outside of health too.
Highlights
Managing the health risks and reducing the socioeconomic impact of emergencies requires a whole-of-society approach [1], defined as a governing arrangement where public agencies directly engage non-state stakeholders in a collective decisionmaking process that is consensus-oriented, deliberative, and aims to make or implement public policy or manage public programs or assets [2]
This paper demonstrates that World Health Organization (WHO) contributed to the whole-of-society response to COVID-19 at the country level through the United Nations (UN) system
The three case studies presented demonstrate that WHO contributed to the whole-ofsociety response at the country level, in addition to leading the health response as per its mandate
Summary
Managing the health risks and reducing the socioeconomic impact of emergencies requires a whole-of-society approach [1], defined as a governing arrangement where public agencies directly engage non-state stakeholders in a collective decisionmaking process that is consensus-oriented, deliberative, and aims to make or implement public policy or manage public programs or assets [2]. A dedicated COVID-19 related Crisis Management Team for Cox’s Bazar was established, initially comprised of the UN Resident Coordinator and Heads of Agencies of WHO, International Organization for Migration (IOM), UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UNICEF, and WFP as well as the Head of Sub-office of WHO and the senior coordinator of ISCG. This forum enabled frequent and direct interagency decision making and was a key facilitator of operational decision-making between the field and national decision makers. Online training mechanisms developed by WHO, in conjunction with the MOH Post Graduate Medical Institute, allowed experts to train large groups of healthcare workers in the public and private sector from across Uzbekistan (500 people per session) on COVID-19 related issues and topics, with the training materials made available to partners outside of the health sector
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