A72/6 Independent Oversight and Advisory Committee for the WHO Health Emergencies Programme

Overview

The IOAC welcomes the efforts of the Director-General, the senior leadership and WHO staff in beginning to transform the whole Organization to meet the ambitious triple billion targets of the Thirteenth General Programme of Work. The IOAC endorses the strategic direction WHO has taken, with a shift of the narrative from the WHE Programme to WHO’s function in emergencies. The IOAC will closely monitor the process of harmonizing cross-cutting functions to ensure that the transformation agenda can provide added value to the Organization’s key priority of managing emergencies. The IOAC will also track how effectively WHO manages the risks inherent in such a change on their ongoing ability to respond to emergencies. 46.

WHO has established a strong coordination and leadership role in health. Two Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo subsequent to the West African outbreak have demonstrated WHO’s progress as both an operational and technical organization leading the response at the front line.

The declining trend of the current EVD outbreak, noted by IOAC in its report to the Executive Board at its 144th session in January 2019, has been reversed and transmission is increasing as of the writing of this report. The Ebola virus has since spread southwards of the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri amid protracted armed conflict. The IOAC commends WHO’s reaffirmed commitment to ending the outbreak. However, the IOAC is very concerned about funding gaps and staff exhaustion due to prolonged operations in a highly insecure and complex setting. The current EVD outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is at a critical juncture and WHO cannot succeed without the assistance of, and collaboration with, its partners and without financial support from Member States and donors.