Updates February 2019-2020
Emergency preparedness
Experts from the health, veterinary, interior and emergency sectors from 11 countries in the Region were trained on the use of various WHO tools and methodologies to assess risks, conduct contingency planning, test capacities through simulation exercises, and review the functionality of the response system after an emergency has occurred during 2 subregional training courses organized in Kyrgyzstan and North Macedonia.
To guide risk-informed programming for emergency risk management, 10 countries and territories in the Region conducted strategic risk assessments at both national and subnational levels using the WHO Strategic Tool for Assessing Risks (STAR). Furthermore, Sweden used this tool to evaluate the impact of climate change on health hazards and inform its health-sector climate change adaptation plan.
Albania developed its health-sector emergency response plan to provide rapid and coordinated action during and immediately after an emergency occurs. Five additional countries and territories in the Region have conducted scoping exercises and are in the process of emergency response planning.
Serbia developed a contingency plan for the health sector to ensure measures are in place to manage the public health consequences of floods with the technical support of WHO.
Emergency response
In an earthquake in Albania in November 2019, 51 people were killed, 943 were injured and over 13 000 were displaced. The event also caused serious structural damage, including to health facilities. The recovery process and post-disaster needs assessment was launched by the Government of Albania in December 2019 with the support of the United Nations, the EU and the World Bank. WHO/Europe supported Albanian authorities to coordinate the health response and is helping to build back a better health system.
Approximately 720 000 free primary health-care consultations were provided in 2019 by more than 2600 Syrian health-care workers trained by the Ministry of Health of Turkey with the support of WHO/Europe. Consultations are carried out in 7 Refugee Health Centres that provide culturally sensitive care to the Syrian population living in Turkey, currently estimated at 3.6 million. In addition, from Gaziantep, Turkey, WHO/Europe continues to coordinate health partners through the Health Cluster to provide cross-border support to northern Syria within the whole-of-Syria response.
Addressing the needs of the 5.2 million people who are directly affected by the 5-year conflict in eastern Ukraine, WHO/Europe has trained over 150 emergency health-care professionals on advanced trauma care and 12 teams on mental health-care provision. Moreover, support has been provided to improve laboratories and infection prevention and control measures in the eastern Donbass region. WHO/Europe also continues to support partner coordination to the protracted humanitarian crisis through the Health Cluster.
