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. 2023 Jun 20;13(6):e068934.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-068934.

Public health emergency operations centres in Africa: a cross-sectional study assessing the implementation status of core components and areas for improvement, December 2021

Senait Tekeste Fekadu  1 , Abrham Lilay Gebrewahid  2 , Wessam Mankoula  3 , Womi Eteng  3 , Virgil Lokossou  4 , Yan Kawe  2 , Ali Abdullah  5 , L Jian  6 , Mathew Tut M Kol  3 , Menchion Chuck Wilton  7 , Emily Rosenfeld  7 , Valerie Nkamgang Bemo  8 , Emily Collard  9 , Liz McGinley  9 , Ariane Halm  10 , Merawi Aragaw  3 , Ishata Nannie Conteh  2 , Fiona Braka  2 , Abdou Salam Gueye  2
Affiliations

Public health emergency operations centres in Africa: a cross-sectional study assessing the implementation status of core components and areas for improvement, December 2021

Senait Tekeste Fekadu et al. BMJ Open. .

Abstract

Objective: To assess implementation status of public health emergency operations centres (PHEOCs) in all countries in Africa.

Design: Cross-sectional.

Setting: Fifty-four national PHEOC focal points in Africa responded to an online survey between May and November 2021. Included variables aimed to assess capacities for each of the four PHEOC core components. To assess the PHEOCs' functionality, criteria were defined from among the collected variables by expert consensus based on PHEOC operations' prioritisation. We report results of the descriptive analysis, including frequencies of proportions.

Results: A total of 51 (93%) African countries responded to the survey. Among these, 41 (80%) have established a PHEOC. Twelve (29%) of these met 80% or more of the minimum requirements and were classified as fully functional. Twelve (29%) and 17 (41%) PHEOCs that met 60%-79% and below 60% the minimum requirements were classified as functional and partially functional, respectively.

Conclusions: Countries in Africa made considerable progress in setting up and improving functioning of PHEOCs. One-third of the responding countries with a PHEOC have one fulfilling at least 80% of the minimum requirements to operate the critical emergency functions. There are still several African countries that either do not have a PHEOC or whose PHEOCs only partially meet these minimal requirements. This calls for significant collaboration across all stakeholders to establish functional PHEOCs in Africa.

Keywords: Health policy; Information management; PUBLIC HEALTH.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PHEOCs with the capacity for core component 1 (PHEOC policies, plans and procedures) in Africa, 2021. IMS, incident management system; MS, Member States; PHEOCs, public health emergency operations centres.
Figure 2
Figure 2
PHEOCs with the capacity for core component 4 (communication technology and physical infrastructure) in Africa, 2021. IMS, incident management system; MS, Member States; PHEOCs, public health emergency operations centres.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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