Building operational readiness for responding to emergencies in the WHO South-East Asia Region

Pesigan, Arturo; Bhola, Anil K; Pak, Hyon C; Perera, Sugandhika; Prawira, John; Harbou, Kai Von; Sinha, Shandip Kumar; Buddha, Nilesh; Niemi, Tamara Curtin; Evers, Egmond Samir; Ofrin, Roderico

doi:10.4103/2224-3151.282994

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“…16 Furthermore, a small body of grey-reviewed and peer-reviewed literature in emergency preparedness describes this transition from preparedness into the response using the concepts 'operationalization' and 'operational readiness'. These concepts appoint to the need to assure a timely, [17][18][19][20] effective [17][18][19][20] and efficient 17 19 20 response infrastructure 'focused on the highest priority risks'. 20 However, how 'to operationalize' or to be 'operationally ready' largely remains unclear.…”

Section: Strengths and Limitations Of This Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Getting ready to act: theorising a stepwise transition into crisis response at points of entry based on interviews with COVID-19 responders and a military preparedness framework

et al. 2023

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IntroductionPoints of entry (POE) have an important role in timely national response to infectious diseases threats. However, a guiding framework is lacking for the transition from generic preparedness into optimally specified response for an imminent infectious disease threat, a step called ‘operational readiness’.ObjectiveWe aim to contribute to the conceptual closure of this preparedness–response gap for infectious disease control at POE by providing content to the operational readiness concept.DesignWe first explored the NATO Combat Readiness (NCR) concept for its applicability on infectious disease control at POE, as the military discipline faces the same need of being flexible in preparing for unknown threats. Concepts of the NCR that support the transition into response to a specific threat were integrated into the operational readiness concept. To explore the added value of the concept in practice, we conducted and analysed semistructured interviews of professionals at European POE (n=24) responsible for the early COVID-19 response.ResultsBased on the NCR, operational readiness builds on the fact that activating the response capabilities and capacities to a specific threat requires time. For professionals at POE, the transition from generic preparedness into the COVID-19 response led to challenges in specifying response plans, dealing with an overload of information, while experiencing shortages of public health staff. These challenges could be covered within operational readiness by defining the time and the specific staging needed to upgrade response capabilities and capacities.DiscussionWe conclude that a guiding framework for operational readiness seems appropriate in relation to the many activities and challenges POE have had to face during the COVID-19 response. Operational readiness is mainly defined by the time dimension required to deploy the response to a specific threat. However, integrating this conceptual framework into practice requires structural and sustainable investments in outbreak preparedness.

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