NextBillion - A WDI Publication

Background

National Public Health Agencies (NPHAs) play a central role in preventing, detecting, and responding to public health threats. They contribute to detecting threats early, generate and interpret evidence, coordinate across sectors, support decision-making and communicate with credibility during crises. The ability of NPHAs to perform these functions depends not only on technical capacity, but also on the governance and structural arrangements within which they operate.

Yet, there remains little systematic evidence on how governance arrangements affect their effectiveness. Recognizing this critical gap, the WHO Health Emergencies Programme (WHE) and the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research (the Alliance) launched a multi-country learning program to examine governance and structural arrangements of NPHAs across diverse contexts—from autonomous agencies to line ministries, and from established to newly formed NPHAs.

To better understand how governance shapes their capacity to prepare for and respond to emergencies, a cross-country studythat examined ten NPHAs across diverse settings. The study identified three governance models in relation to the Ministry of Health (MOH): MOH-integrated public health units, MOH-overseen NPHAs and an independent NPHA. Across models, structural position influenced but did not determine what NPHAs were able to do in practice. Instead, the governance factors linked emergency preparedness and response (EPR) were the clarity and enforceability of legal mandates, the degree of operational autonomy over staffing and financing, arrangements for accessing, sharing and communicating data and evidence, and financing arrangements that enabled timely action.

This webinar will provide a platform to present the main findings of the cross-country study on governance of NPHAs for EPR and bring country perspectives from different governance models on how governance arrangements shape emergency action in practice. It will bring together global partners to reflect on the implications of these findings for NPHA reform and strengthening, and identify practical lessons on how national leaders, international organizations, and funders can support more effective governance arrangements and translate lessons from recent reforms into actionable strategies across contexts.

Objectives

• Highlight the importance of governance mechanisms in National Public Health Agencies (NPHAs) for emergency preparedness and response by
• Presenting the findings of a cross-country study and reflect on the implications of these findings for NPHA reform and strengthening
• Identify practical lessons on how national leaders, international organizations, and funders can support more effective governance arrangements and translate lessons from recent reforms into actionable strategies across contexts.

Agenda and Speakers

Introduction: EPI-WIN Science and Knowledge Translation, WHO

Welcome and introduction: Kumanan Rasanathan, Executive Director, Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, WHO

Opening remarks “NPHA Reform and Restructuring to Meet Current and Future Challenges”:
Chikwe Ihekweazu, Executive Director, Health Emergencies Programme, WHO

Introductory video (Fiji)

Presentation of study findings: cross-country study on governance of NPHAs: Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, WHO

Panel discussion – Country and partner perspectives: moderated by Sara Hersey, Director, Collaborative Intelligence, WHO

Panelists:
Haftom Taame, Principal Program Lead for NPHI and Workforce, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC)

Mahendra Arnold, Deputy Director General, Public Health Services, Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka

International Association of National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI), Speaker TBC

Youngmee Jee, Former Commissioner, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KCDA), Korea

Q&A with the audience: Moderated by Sara Hersey and Kumanan Rasanathan

Closing reflections: Implications for national and global actors and future learning: Sara Hersey and Kumanan Rasanathan