The

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

Health Emergencies Programme was established on 1 July 2016 by

Director-General A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'' ) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a government ...

Margaret Chan Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun, (born 21 August 1947) is a Chinese-Canadian physician, who served as the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) delegating the People's Republic of China from 2006–2017. Chan previously served a ...

at the request of the

World Health Assembly The World Health Assembly (WHA) is the forum through which the World Health Organization (WHO) is governed by its 194 member states. It is the world's highest health policy setting body and is composed of health ministers from member states. T ...

History

Due to the slow response to the 2014-2015

Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa The 2013–2016 epidemic of Ebola virus disease, centered in West Africa, Western Africa, was the most widespread List of Ebola outbreaks, outbreak of the disease in history. It caused major loss of life and Socioeconomics, socioeconomic disr ...

, DG Chan sought the help of an all-star Advisory Group on Reform of WHO's Work in Outbreaks and Emergencies with Health and Humanitarian Consequences. The Advisory Group was composed of 19 members "with relevant experience, including senior leadership positions in United Nations agencies, government and international humanitarian non-governmental organizations." The Advisory Group was chaired by

David Nabarro Sir David Nunes Nabarro (born 26 August 1949) is a World Health Organization's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Special Envoy on Covid-19 for the World Health Organization. He has made his career in the international civil service, working fo ...

. For continuity, two of its members were on the subsequently-established first IAOC. The Advisory Group's final report was on the DG's desk in time for the April 2016 meeting of the WHA. WHO budgeted an additional $494 million for this programme in the first year of its operation, for which it had received $140 million by April 2016.

Executive Director

In 2019, Michael J. Ryan became Executive Director of the WHOHEP, replacing

Peter Salama Peter Salama (1968 – 23 January 2020) was an Australian epidemiologist who worked for UNICEF (2002–16) and the World Health Organization (2016–19). He was particularly known for his work at both organisations managing their responses to Ebo ...

in an internal reshuffle.

Independent Oversight and Advisory Committee

The Advisory Group issued a final report from which was drawn the Term of Reference document, which the WHA agreed would be the guidance to DGWHO in the form=ation of the HEP. The HEP has been formed with an "Independent Oversight and Advisory Committee" (IAOC) as supervisor and in order "to provide oversight and monitoring of the development and performance of the Programme and to guide the Programme’s activities". The IAOC is a volunteer board and members are only reimbursed with a travel and per-diem entitlement. The IAOC consists of seven or eight members "drawn from national governments, nongovernmental organizations, and the UN system, with extensive experience in broad range of disciplines, including public health, infectious disease, humanitarian crises, public administration, emergency management, community engagement, partnerships and development. Members serve in their personal capacity..."

IAOC membership

As of April 2020, the IAOC had as its seven members: * Felicity Harvey (Chair) * Walid Ammar * Hiroyoshi Endo *

Geeta Rao Gupta Geeta Rao Gupta (born 1956 in Mumbai, India) is a Activism, leader on gender, women's issues, and HIV/AIDS who is serving as United States Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues since May 2023. She previously served as executive directo ...

* Jeremy M. Konyndyk * Malebona Precious Matsoso *

Theresa Tam Theresa Tam (; born 1965) is a Canadian physician and public servant who currently serves as the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada, chief public health officer of Canada, who is the second-in-command of the Public Health Agency of Canada ( ...

Past IAOC members

As of April 2016 and April 2017 and October 2017 the IAOC was composed of eight members: * Precious Matsoso (Chair); Director General of Health, South Africa * Walid Ammar; Director General of Health, Lebanon *

; Deputy Executive Director,

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...

* Felicity Harvey; Director General for Public and International Health, UK * Jeremy Konyndyk; Director, Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance,

USAID The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 bi ...

* Hiroki Nakatani; Special Assistant for International Affairs, Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan * Michael J. Ryan; Senior Advisor,

Global Polio Eradication Initiative The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is an initiative created in 1988, just after the World Health Assembly resolved to eradicate the disease poliomyelitis. Led by the World Health Organization, it is the largest international public health ...

, National Emergency Operations Centre, Islamabad, Pakistan *

Elhadj As Sy Elhadj As Sy (born 1958 ) is a Senegalese humanitarian aid expert who served as the Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) from 2014 until 2019. Education Sy studied Arts and Human Sciences ...

; Secretary General,

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is a worldwide humanitarian aid organization that reaches 160 million people each year through its 192-member National Societies. It acts before, during and after disas ...

Michael Ryan departed the IAOC in May 2017 and was listed as member until at least April 2018. By June 2018, the list of IOAC members had assumed its April 2020 form.

References

{{reflist World Health Organization International medical and health organizations Public health