@article{ref1,
title="Simulation exercises and after action reviews - analysis of outputs during 2016-2019  to strengthen global health emergency preparedness and response",
journal="Globalization and health",
year="2020",
author="Copper, Frederik Anton and Mayigane, Landry Ndriko and Pei, Yingxin and Charles, Denis and Nguyen, Thanh Nam and Vente, Candice and Chiu de Vázquez, Cindy and Bell, Allan and Njenge, Hilary Kagume and Kandel, Nirmal and Ho, Zheng Jie Marc and Omaar, Abbas and de la Rocque, Stéphane and Chungong, Stella",
volume="16",
number="1",
pages="e115-e115",
abstract="BACKGROUND: Under the International Health Regulations (2005) [IHR (2005)]  Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, after action reviews (AAR) and simulation  exercises (SimEx) are two critical components which measure the functionality of a  country's health emergency preparedness and response under a &quot;real-life&quot; event or  simulated situation. The objective of this study was to describe the AAR and SimEx  supported by the World Health Organization (WHO) globally in 2016-2019. <br><br>METHODS: In  2016-2019, WHO supported 63 AAR and 117 SimEx, of which 42 (66.7%) AAR reports and  56 (47.9%) SimEx reports were available. We extracted key information from these  reports and created two central databases for AAR and SimEx, respectively. We  conducted descriptive analysis and linked the findings according to the 13 IHR  (2005) core capacities. <br><br>RESULTS: Among the 42 AAR and 56 SimEx available reports,  AAR and SimEx were most commonly conducted in the WHO African Region (AAR: n = 32,  76.2%; SimEx: n = 32, 52.5%). The most common public health events reviewed or  tested in AAR and SimEx, respectively, were epidemics and pandemics (AAR: n = 38,  90.5%; SimEx: n = 46, 82.1%). For AAR, 10 (76.9%) of the 13 IHR core capacities were  reviewed at least once, with no AAR conducted for food safety, chemical events, and  radiation emergencies, among the reports available. For SimEx, all 13 (100.0%) IHR  capacities were tested at least once. For AAR, the most commonly reviewed IHR core  capacities were health services provision (n = 41, 97.6%), risk communication  (n = 39, 92.9%), national health emergency framework (n = 39, 92.9%), surveillance  (n = 37, 88.1%) and laboratory (n = 35, 83.3%). For SimEx, the most commonly tested  IHR core capacity were national health emergency framework (n = 56, 91.1%), followed  by risk communication (n = 48, 85.7%), IHR coordination and national IHR focal point  functions (n = 45, 80.4%), surveillance (n = 31, 55.4%), and health service  provision (n = 29, 51.8%). For AAR, the median timeframe between the end of the  event and AAR was 125 days (range = 25-399 days). <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: WHO has recently  published guidance for the planning, execution, and follow-up of AAR and SimEx. Through the guidance and the simplified reporting format provided, we hope to see  more countries conduct AAR and SimEx and standardization in their methodology,  practice, reporting and follow-up.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1744-8603",
doi="10.1186/s12992-020-00632-w",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12992-020-00632-w"
}