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INTERNATIONAL HEALTH REGULATIONS: CORE CAPACITIES ASSESSMENT AT POINTS OF ENTRY IN PAKISTAN

The International Health Regulations (IHR) are meant to prevent, protect against,control and respond to the international spread of disease.To achieve this,IHR defines core competencies for Points of Entry (PoE).Pakistan encompasses a total of 18 International Points of Entry (PoEs)including Airport...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of infectious diseases 2023-05, Vol.130, p.S122-S122
Main Authors: Nasir, Z., Noreen, D.N., Shah, S.G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The International Health Regulations (IHR) are meant to prevent, protect against,control and respond to the international spread of disease.To achieve this,IHR defines core competencies for Points of Entry (PoE).Pakistan encompasses a total of 18 International Points of Entry (PoEs)including Airports (9), Seaports (03), and ground Crossings (06) which falls under the administrative control of the Directorate of Central Health Establishment (DoCHE)This study aimed to assess Pakistan's capacity to detect and respond to public health emergencies at designated PoE. An assessment was conducted by using a priority checklist requiring a visit to all POEs w.e.f 10th September 2021 to 30 th September 2021. Core competencies were segregated into three groups, routine capacities (group I), responding to emergencies that might constitute a PHEIC (group II), and coordination and communication (group III). Data sources included an in-depth interview with multiple stakeholders from PoE using the assessment tool published by the World Health Organization (WHO),documentation, and observation. On average, PoE meets 52 % of core competencies. PoE performed well on Group I & II, meeting 84% of the criteria. PoE has the worst results on group III requirements, meeting 50% of the criteria. Key findings included shortage of trained human resources (HR) and periodic adequate training; programs to ensure a safe environment for travelers were not ensured in all POE. Contingency plans (CP) to deal with unexpected public health did not exist at few PoE. Since the adoption of IHR in 2005, DoCHE has been implementing core competencies at PoE but we have not achieved 100% implementation.Recommendations for continued improvement included essential equipment, logistics support, trained HR, and contingency plans for POEs and its amplification for PHEIC; designing tailored POE core capacities strengthening trainings for workforce development. IHR is a very critical tool to assure the preparedness and response to public health emergencies of international concern.
ISSN:1201-9712
DOI:10.1016/j.ijid.2023.04.302