Emergency Preparedness and Response

Supporting Member States to develop and implement comprehensive, regularly tested preparedness and response plans.

(FILES) -- A file photo taken on April 1, 2014 shows staff of the "Doctors without Borders" ('Medecin sans frontieres) medical aid organisation carrying the body of a person killed by viral haemorrhagic fever, at a center for victims of the Ebola virus in Guekedou. More than 200 people have died from the highly contagious Ebola virus in Guinea, making it one of the worst ever outbreaks of the deadly haemorrhagic fever, the World Health Organization said on June 4, 2014. The UN's health agency said it so far had registered 328 confirmed or suspected cases of Ebola in Guinea, including 208 deaths, with 21 deaths registered between May 29 and June 1 alone.   AFP PHOTO / SEYLLOUSEYLLOU/AFP/Getty Images

Goal

Ensured effective public health emergency preparedness and response. 

Strategic Objectives

  1. Support the development and testing of multi-hazard and multi-sectoral preparedness and response plans for public health emergencies at national, regional and continental levels.
  2. Support the development of surge capacity at national, regional and continental levels that integrates the capabilities of NPHIs and RCCs. 
  3. Support the establishment of functional national Public Health Emergency Operation Centres (PHEOC) as part of NPHIs. 
  4. Establish and manage national and regional stockpiles for public health emergency response. 
  5. Facilitate and promote sustained partnerships for multi-sectoral coordination and collaboration.

Programmes

Sub-Programmes

AVoHC

African Volunteers Health Corps

The African Health Volunteers Corps (AVoHC) is a team of African volunteer medical and public health professionals established by the African Union to support emergency response to disease outbreaks in Africa.