Worldwide—Preparedness and Response (P&R)

The Preparedness and Response (P&R) project was one component of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Emerging Pandemic Threats (EPT 2) program. The EPT initiative prepared for, detected, and responded to outbreaks such as Ebola, avian influenza, and MERS that move between animal and human populations. EPT is, in turn, part of the U.S. Global Health Security Agenda, which brings together U.S. Government agencies and other national governments to address natural and manmade disease threats worldwide.

P&R had a dual mandate to help countries design and implement national preparedness and response plans for public health events of unknown etiology and to establish and strengthen national One Health platforms. Our goal was to help address the practical issues confronting national governments as they strive to cope with the human, financial, and logistical constraints associated with pandemic threats. The objectives were:

1. National One Health platforms established and strengthened;
2. National preparedness and response plans developed, tested, implemented, and evaluated.

The P&R project provided technical assistance to strengthen countries’ multisectoral preparedness efforts. Over the past four years, the project worked directly in 16 countries: Bangladesh, Cameroon, Cote D’ Ivoire, Ethiopia, Guinea, Indonesia, Kenya, Laos, Liberia, Mali, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, and Vietnam.

Listen to a podcast about the global threat of pandemics with experts from P&R.

Sample Activities

• Organize One Health sensitization to assist stakeholders in advocating for a One Health approach;
• Conduct leadership trainings to strengthen One Health platform operations;
• Facilitate One Health for Planning and Performance (OH-APP) workshops to help countries self-assess the capacity and performance of their multisectoral One Health platforms;
• Provide technical assistance for outbreak response;
• Facilitate disease outbreak after-action reviews to identify strengths and weaknesses and agree on necessary action to improve response.

Select Results

• Helped launch or strengthen national One Health platforms in 16 countries.
• Strengthened preparedness and response planning in 15 countries.
• Developed or updated One Health strategic plans in 13 countries.
• Conducted 12 preparedness and response simulations across seven countries.
• Provided technical assistance for outbreak response in seven countries.

For more information about the Preparedness and Response global impact, click here.