Public health emergencies and responses (Constituency statement statement)
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World Health Professions Alliance (WHPA)
World Health Professions Alliance (WHPA)
C/o FDI World Dental Federation, Chemin de Joinville 26, 1216 Geneva, Switzerland
info@whpa.org – http://www.whpa.org/
Constituency statement to the WHO Executive Board 152 (Jan-Feb 2023) submitted by:
• FDI World Dental Federation
• FIP International Pharmaceutical Federation
• ICN International Council of Nurses
• WMA World Medical Association
• World Physiotherapy
• WaterAid
• International College of Surgeons
• PATH
• Amref Health Africa
• IntraHealth International
• International Society for Telemedicine and eHealth
Item 12.1
Strengthening WHO preparedness for and response to health emergencies
I am speaking on behalf of the International Council of Nurses, which is part of the World Health
Professions Alliance. The WHPA is pleased to be strengthening its collaboration with WHO,
formalized in November last year via a Memorandum of Understanding.
We appreciate the proposal to establish a Global Health Emergency Council and underline that
to achieve the objective of a whole-of-society response, mechanisms to involve civil society
organizations in the work of the council will need to be developed.
We strongly support the development of a cohesive multidisciplinary and professionalized health
emergency workforce. Such an emergency workforce must be distributed in all regions of the
world and rapidly deployable. It is crucial that principles contained in the WHO Global Code of
Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel be applied to this public health
workforce.
We also wish to frame emergency response as a key component of health system strengthening
and UHC. We underline the critical contribution of the health workforce as a whole to ensuring
the continuity of essential health services, including the provision of palliative care during
pandemics. We also emphasise the need for stronger health data governance, through a global
framework, to improve patient management and safeguard rights.
World Health Professions Alliance (WHPA)
World Health Professions Alliance (WHPA)
C/o FDI World Dental Federation, Chemin de Joinville 26, 1216 Geneva, Switzerland
info@whpa.org – http://www.whpa.org/
The extreme conditions generated by the pandemic highlight the need for decent, safe, and
responsive working conditions to deliver better health outcomes. Safe and supportive working
environments also ensure the retention of qualified health workers to maximize investments
made in health education and training. Specifically in pandemics, this means measures to avoid
exhaustion, mental health traumas and burn out caused by health systems gaps as well as
actions to prevent workplace violence; it also means ensuring that health workers everywhere in
the world can access personal protective equipment, immunization and other countermeasures
given their greater risk of exposure.
Members States and WHO must involve health professionals in the way forward.