Earlier detection of public health risks – Health policy lessons for better compliance with the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005): Insights from low-, mid- and high-income countries

Abstract

a b s t r a c tThe International Health Regulations (IHR 2005) require all Member States to build and maintain the capacities to prevent, detect and respond to public health emergencies. Early detection of public health risks is one of the core functions. In order to improve surveillance and detection, a better understanding of the health system conditions and their influencing factors are needed. The Israeli Ministry of Health/IHR National Focal Point held a workshop to elucidate health system conditions and their influencing factors that enable earlier detection. The workshop methodology employed a stepwise, small working group analysis approach to elucidate the conditions and their influencing factors affecting each stage of recognition, assessment, and reporting of infectious disease outbreaks, at the local, regional and national levels. In order to detect public health risks earlier, the detection process needs to be moved closer to the local communities and start with building capacity within communities. Building capacity and engaging with local and diverse communities requires significant changes in the governance approach and include information sharing, multi-sectoral communication and coordination across various levels before, during and after public health emergencies. Across the regions, low-, mid-and high-income countries seem to struggle more with governance and information sharing rather than with technical capacities and capabilities.

Knowledge exchange in crisis settings: A scoping review

“…The different types and sources of knowledge varied across studies, with many studies describing the exchange of multiple types of knowledge. The majority of studies (n = 70) described the exchange of research evidence and data [24,26,[31][32][33][34]36…”

“…Eight studies reported the use of active KE and concerned the response stage of a pandemic [31,32,35,43,48,53,55,61] involving mainly exchange between researchers and policy/practitioners [31,32,35,43,48]. Exchange involving lay knowledge was reported in three of these studies [53, 55,61].…”

“…KE models involving researcher and practice/professional exchange included the use of interactive modelling and workshops bringing together research findings and data on disease and interventions with professional knowledge to inform decision making [31,32,43]. They also included the use of cross border networks to share data, information, and expertise [48].…”

Ein neues Verständnis von Risikokommunikation in Public-Health-Notlagen

“…Diese Methoden haben bei der Früherkennung von Infektionserkrankungen eine besondere Bedeutung, denn je früher diese erkannt werden, desto schneller kann die Weiterverbreitung gestoppt werden [ 34 , 35 ]. Die Internationalen Gesundheitsvorschriften (IHR 2005) tragen zur Entwicklung von Methoden bei, die es erlauben, Ausbrüche früher zu erkennen und dabei auf die Ortskenntnis und Aufmerksamkeit der Menschen vor Ort zu setzen [ 36 ]. Mithilfe der Soziallabormethode konnten bei der Bekämpfung des Ebolaausbruchs 2014/2015 in Westafrika tatsächlich neue Wege zum Infektionsmanagement gefunden werden [ 37 ].…”

“…Die Gesundheitsämter müssen diese Informationen aufnehmen, bewerten und mit regionalen Kollegen teilen und gleichzeitig erkennen, dass es ein Ausbruch ist, und angemessene Interventionen zur Eindämmung einleiten. Dieses Konzept zur Früherkennung von Krankheitsausbrüchen wird aktuell für Public-Health-Notlagen aufgearbeitet [ 34 , 36 ].…”