• The World Health Organisation (WHO) convened more than 15 countries and over 20 regional health agencies, health emergency networks and other partners for Exercise Polaris.

• Conducted for the first time, the two-day simulation tested a new global coordination mechanism for health emergencies.

• The exercise simulated an outbreak of a fictional virus spreading across the world.

• It tested WHO’s Global Health Emergency Corps (GHEC), a framework designed to strengthen countries’ emergency workforce, coordinate the deployment of surge teams and experts, and enhance collaboration between countries.

• Each country participated through its national health emergency coordination structure and worked under real-life conditions to share information, align policies and activate their response.

• The exercise provided an opportunity for governments to test preparedness in a realistic environment, one where trust and mutual accountability were as critical as speed and capacity.

Global Health Emergency Corps

• The COVID-19 pandemic showed that the world is ill-equipped to counteract a new, significant threat to human lives and economies. While decisions on national responses will always be retained by each country, the pandemic underscored that no nation can protect itself through individual action alone.

• GHEC is a framework for enhancing health emergency workforce capacity within health emergency prevention, preparedness, response and resilience (HEPR) work, and a collaboration platform for countries and health emergency networks.

• It was launched in May 2023.

Goals of GHEC: 

i) Stop the next pandemic.

ii) Strengthen health emergency response at all levels.

Significance of GHEC:

• Decisions on national response will always remain with each country.

• No country can stop a pandemic by acting alone.

• The greatest single asset in health emergency response is the workforce.

• Coordination in emergencies is most efficient with pre-established relationships and trust.

• Building capacity and coordination will strengthen all health emergency responses.

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