The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that no country was fully prepared to deal with a pandemic of such scale, speed, severity and impact. A new mechanism, the Universal Health and Preparedness Review (UHPR), has been proposed as means to increase accountability and transparency among Member States in gap identification and capacity building for better health emergency preparedness. The peer-review nature of the envisioned UHPR ensures that key issues identified will be acted upon at the highest political levels of government and that relevant recommendations will be followed up upon and monitored on regular basis.
To guide the technical basis for the UHPR, a global group of technical experts was convened to support WHO in the development process of the methodology in assessing preparedness status, including a set of common indicators to be used by all Member States undergoing the review process.
Functions
The functions of the UHPR technical advisory group is to provide expert inputs on the technical content of the UHPR, including draft processes for field testing, piloting, and ensure that it is evidence-based, logical and appropriate to measure the status of health emergency preparedness in countries.
Operations
Operations of the UHPR technical advisory group will be held through online consultations, email, virtual or in-person meetings. WHO will provide secretariat support to the group of experts. The UHPR technical advisory group shall normally meet at least once a month. However, WHO may convene additional meetings. The UHPR technical advisory group meetings may be held virtually, via video or teleconference or in-person. Interim teleconferences may be required of the members. The working language of the group will be English.
Background of TAG Members
The UHPR technical advisory group is multidisciplinary, with members who have a range of technical knowledge, skills and experience relevant to health emergency preparedness. Scientists, technical experts, healthcare professionals and policy makers with expertise in the following areas:
Sub-groups
The TAG established smaller working groups of their members to work on specific issues:
Meeting Reports
Composition
Co-Chairs of the UHPR TAG:
Director of the Scientific and International Affairs Department at Santé Publique France.
Health Advisor, Commonwealth Secretariat
Rapporteur of the UHPR TAG:
Professor and Head of the Division of Epidemiology at the School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley
Mitglieder
Senior Vice President of Prevent Epidemics at Resolve to Save Lives, Vital Strategies
MD, MPH, Diploma Specialist in Infectious Disease; Diploma in Tropical Medicine; Consultant Communicable Disease Control
Founding Director of Boston University (BU) Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases Policy and Research and an associate Director of the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL)
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland - Associate Professor of Global Health Policy, Department of Health Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, United Kingdom
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia
Former Assistant to the Director-General and Head of the UN Human Rights Program, Geneva
Co-chair of the UHC2030 Steering Committee
Country Director, Eastern Mediterranean Public Health Network (EMPHNET), Bangladesh Office, Dhaka, Bangladesh
McGill University, Swiss TPH, and Canadian University Dubai
Swiss Government, UN agencies, Director of UPR Info
Former Director General of Health Services, India
Global Health and International Development Expert
Director General of Disease Surveillance and Control, MoH, Oman
MD, Public Health
Professor and Deputy Director, China Center for Health Development Studies, Peking University
MPH, Royal Tropical Medical Institute (KIT), Amsterdam-Netherlands
Chief Medical Officer at Casablanca International Airport, Morocco; National Coordinator of the Points of Entry Program of Morocco
Dr Carlos Navaro Colorado