Asia Pacific Strategy for Emerging Diseases and Public Health Emergencies (Resolution)

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION ORGANISATION MONDIALE DE LA SANTÉ R E S O L U T I O N REGIONAL COMMITTEE FOR THE WESTERN PACIFIC COMITE RÉGIONAL DU PACIFIQUE OCCIDENTAL WPR/RC67.R6 13 October 2016 ASIA PACIFIC STRATEGY FOR EMERGING DISEASES AND PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCIES The Regional Committee, Recalling resolution WHA59.2 on Application of the International Health Regulations (2005), or IHR (2005); and World Health Assembly documents A69/20 on the Annual report on the implementation of IHR (2005), A69/21 on the Report of the Review Committee on the Role of IHR (2005) in the Ebola Outbreak and Response and A69/30 on Reform of WHO’s Work in health emergency management; Further recalling resolutions WPR/RC56.R4 on the Asia Pacific Strategy for Emerging Diseases (APSED); WPR/RC57.R2 on APSED, including IHR (2005) and Avian Influenza; WPR/RC58.R3 on Avian and Pandemic Influenza, IHR (2005) and APSED; and WPR/RC61.R5 on APSED (2010) and IHR (2005); Noting that an evaluation of 10 years of APSED implementation confirmed the importance and relevance of the strategy as a common framework for Member States to develop core capacities to deal with public health emergencies using a generic, step-by-step approach, in accordance with IHR (2005); .../ WPR/RC67.R6 page 2 Recognizing that health security threats do not respect national borders and that their impact reaches far beyond the health sector; Recognizing also that actions to address health security threats and their impact require a multisectoral approach and regional cooperation; Acknowledging that the Western Pacific Region continues to experience outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases and other public health emergencies; Reaffirming the need to continue to maintain and strengthen effective national and regional systems and capacities to prevent, detect, assess and respond to public health events; Recalling an extensive consultative process to develop the updated strategy with Member States, experts and partners; Welcoming the opportunity for the updated strategy to contribute to the further development of the global IHR (2005) implementation plan; Having reviewed the updated draft Asia Pacific Strategy for Emerging Diseases and Public Health Emergencies (APSED III), 1. ENDORSES the Asia Pacific Strategy for Emerging Diseases and Public Health Emergencies (APSED III); 2. URGES Member States: (1) to use APSED III as a strategic framework to update and guide national action plans and coordinate initiatives and multisectoral efforts; .../ WPR/RC67.R6 page 3 (2) to use APSED III to implement the IHR Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, including Joint External Evaluations; (3) to strengthen political commitment for investment in human and financial resources required to advance the implementation of IHR (2005); 3. REQUESTS the Regional Director: (1) to provide technical support for Member States to implement APSED III, including developing or updating national action plans; (2) to coordinate partner support for strengthening IHR core capacities using APSED III, which incorporates the IHR Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, including Joint External Evaluations; (3) to report periodically on progress in implementing APSED III. Seventh meeting, 13 October 2016