Implementation of the IHR Joint External Evaluation: Taiwan's Experiences

Lo, Yi-Chun

Although not a member state of the WHO, Taiwan has demonstrated strong commitment to global health security activities. Examples include actively reporting cases to the WHO and sharing surveillance data with the relevant countries through the National IHR Focal Points since 2009, contributing funds and personal protective equipment to fight against Ebola in West Africa in 2014, and conducting Ebola, MERS, and Zika training courses for regional partners during 2015-16 in cooperation with the United States through the Taiwan-US Global Cooperation Training Framework (GCTF). 11 In April 2015 (before the JEE tool was developed), the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (CDC) officially announced that it would pursue an independent, external review of Taiwan's core capacities using the GHSA assessment tool. During the next 10 months, Taiwan CDC established a GHSA External Assessment Working Group in the Division of Planning and Coordination and an agencylevel, interdepartmental GHSA External Assessment Task Force; secured funding and high-level support from the Executive Yuan and Ministry of Health and Welfare (MoHW); and requested expertise and guidance from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Center for Health Security (now the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security) to prepare for the assessment. In February 2016, in light of the fresh release of the JEE tool, which already integrated the GHSA assessment tool, Taiwan CDC and the Center for Health Security promptly decided to switch to the JEE tool for this assessment. 12 Although the JEE Working Group (formerly named the GHSA External Assessment Working Group) remained in the division of planning and coordination of Taiwan CDC, because the JEE was used to assess Taiwan's collected capabilities, not just those of the MoHW or Taiwan CDC, the interdepartmental task force was expanded to a multisectoral team that involved other government agencies, such as authorities of agriculture, defense, border control, environmental protection, and nuclear power, to address elements that were not included in the GHSA assessment tool.