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Key Considerations

Advocacy

• Advocate for the systematic collection and reporting of standardized clinical data disaggregated by age groups and sex, as well as pregnancy status, as appropriate.

• Advocate for the inclusion of the specific rights, needs and vulnerabilities of children, women and other vulnerable groups, such as persons with disabilities, in prevention, early detection, care and treatment strategies and programmes.

• Advocate for timely and impartial assessment of the broader humanitarian consequences of PHEs[102].

• Advocate for and lead an effort to improve the humanitarian response and access to safe and equitable essential services for affected communities who have been impacted by humanitarian crises since before the PHE. Advocacy should encompass pre-existing humanitarian challenges[103] and their consequences.

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Coordination and Partnerships 

• In collaboration with the government, WHO and partners, UNICEF contributes to the leadership and coordination of several outbreak response pillars, including risk communication and community engagement, immunization, psychosocial support and WASH, as well as continuation of essential health services, including education and child protection.  Which response pillars[104] are activated depends on the type of PHE and country-specific arrangements, operational capacity and other contextual factors.

• In case of the activation of the IASC Protocol for the Control of Infectious Disease Events, UNICEF mobilizes capacities and resources to contribute to the collective response as per its mandated areas and Cluster Lead Agency responsibilities. This includes the deployment of supplies and logistics, surge capacity and the support to national and sub-national coordination.

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Quality Programming and Standards

• Continuously monitor the evolution of humanitarian needs to ensure appropriate, impartial and early response to primary and secondary impacts for the population.

• The specific needs of children, women and other vulnerable groups must be considered in the design of the response.  Child-specific guidance and child-friendly supplies need to be prioritised for prevention, care and treatment.  Medical, nursing, nutritional, rehabilitation, mental health and psychosocial support services, as well as ECD services, need to be ensured.

• Foster integrated and multisectoral response to stop further spread and limit negative impact on individuals and communities, involving health, nutritional and paediatric care, WASH, MHPSS, education, social science research, child protection and community engagement for behaviour and social change.  Prevention pillars may include the combination of IPC at facility, community, household level and in public spaces; risk communication and community engagement for promotion of hygiene and healthy practices; health system strengthening for detection and referral of cases and contacts; immunization; environmental health interventions and other activities, depending on the type of PHE. Case Management pillar may include the combination of provision of specialized paediatric, health and nutritional care; provision of material and psychosocial assistance to affected families; adequate referral and isolation of patients and contacts and other activities, depending on the type of PHE.

• Strengthen and support the continuity of social services in order to minimize and reverse the negative effects of the PHE on the population, such as the reduction of routine vaccinations or discontinuity of health, education, nutrition or other social services due to reallocation of human and financial resources for the response to the PHE itself.

• Support health system capacities to maintain routine immunization, maternal, newborn, young child and adolescent care, HIV treatment, nutrition services and capacities to respond to other life-threatening diseases

• Pay specific attention to urban areas, which pose specific public health challenges for children, as population density facilitates the rapid spread of communicable diseases.

• Systematically engage with communities to implement preparedness, preventive and response activities at community level.  Activities may include community surveillance; risk communication; detection and referral systems; development of isolation capacity; vector control; continuity of health and social services; and others, depending on the type of PHE.

• GBV risks must be mitigated, and all personnel must be equipped and trained with up-to-date information on available GBV response services and referral procedures to support GBV survivors. If there are no GBV actors available, train staff on the GBV Pocket Guide.

• Ensure that the views of affected populations are systematically used to review, inform and adapt all pillars of the public health and humanitarian response, using trusted feedback mechanisms.

• Ensure that communities participate in decisions that affect their lives and have access to safe and confidential complaints mechanisms

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Linking Humanitarian and Development

• Promote national emergency preparedness capacities in accordance with International Health Regulations core capacities and its monitoring and evaluation framework.

• The International Health Regulations monitoring and evaluation framework for PHE should include a child-centred perspective that guides preparedness and response, including real-time evaluations and after-action reviews.

• Include transfer of competence, capacity-building and strengthening of national and local health, water and sanitation systems, social protection system as a core component of the prevention and response.  

• Participate in post-outbreak after-action reviews, joint external evaluations, simulation exercises and national action plans for health security.

• In contexts affected by conflict, fragility or major challenges to social cohesion, ensure that responses to PHEs are conflict-sensitive and do not exacerbate underlying conflict dynamics.