Azerbaijan
WHO/Europe assists the Ministry of Health in strengthening the country’s disaster preparedness and response capacities and coordination mechanisms. Recent activities included the establishment of a national Health Disaster Preparedness and Response Network, an in-depth assessment of health security and crisis management capacities and the establishment of the Emergency Operations Centre at the Ministry of Health. Moreover, a poison information cabinet was founded to promote timely response to chemical incidents.
WHO/Europe focused on:
Health facility strengthening
Strengthening the resilience and safety of the country’s health facilities to ensure that they continue to function in the event of a disaster included assessing the resilience of selected key health facilities using the WHO Hospital Safety Index. Based on this analysis, a work plan was developed, containing interventions to improve the safety of the facilities, and a workshop on hospital safety was conducted. Once implemented, a follow-up assessment evaluated the measures’ technical and cost efficiency.
National public health and emergency management (PHEM) course
Four national PHEM training courses was conducted. They were based on the regional WHO/Europe PHEM course, while incorporating the country’s specific needs and concerns and translated in Azeri and Russian language.
Participation of representatives of Ministry of Health and Ministry of Emergencies in the sub-regional course Public Health & Emergency Management, held in Russian language on 16 -21 September, 2013, Issyk Kul Area, Kyrgyzstan.
Support for mass gathering events
Baku, European Games 2015- WHO/Europe and HQ experts from Disaster Prepardenss and response, Food safety and Surveillance visited the country to provide support and technical advice to the Ministry of Health in preparation for the European Games.
