Re-watch past P2RF events.

Missed a previous session? No problem.

We know that many of you are busy dealing with immediate emergencies. We therefore post zoom recordings of past sessions on this page so you can re-watch them at your convenience.

September 14th, 2021

 

Welcome to the P2RF

The Foundation's Chris Elias and Valerie Bemo took stock of an unprecedented 18 months that has seen the world battle an aggressive, fast-spreading virus, but that has also shed the light on the power of innovation, learning and cross-sector and cross-country collaborations in tackling emergencies head-on. They shared thoughts on the important work of emergency responders across the globe, the critical need to capture and share lessons learned, and the value of strengthening communities of practice through engagements such as the P2RF.

Speakers:

Christopher Elias, President, Global Development, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Valerie Ngamkang Bemo, Deputy Director, Emergency Response, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

 

Learning from the Pandemic

In this double keynote speech, Dr. Nkengasong, Director of the Africa CDC, and Dr. Moeti, Regional Director of the WHO Afro, will share their views on the key learnings from this pandemic, how they have influenced the priorities of the Africa CDC and WHO Afro for the coming years and the milestones that need to be achieved to ensure that the continent as a whole is better prepared for future emergencies.

Speakers:

John Nkengasong, Director, African Centres for Disease Control (Africa CDC)

Matshidiso Moeti, Director, WHO Regional Office for Africa

 

18 months into the crisis what have we learnt from COVID-19?

This opening panel moderated by Dalberg’s Associate Partner Lillian Kidane took stock of the main learnings from the past 18 months as the world has grappled with the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic that has affected all corners of the Earth.

In this session, four experts from the global emergency preparedness and response (EPR) ecosystem shared their key learnings from the vantage point of their respective expertise areas.

Speakers:

Chikwe Ihekweazu, Director, Nigeria CDC

Jemilah Mahmood, Executive Director, Sunway Centre of Planetary Health, Malaysia

Amadou Sall, Director, Institut Pasteur de Dakar, Senegal

Abdou Salam Gueye, Regional Emergency Director, WHO Afro

 

Stepping up to the challenge: How COVID-19 has catalyzed the role of Emergency Operation Centres (EOCs) in emergencies

EOCs play a critical role in emergencies by acting as “command centers” that facilitate the collection and analysis of information, and the coordination of resources to support incident management activities, and timely decision-making.

This session, moderated by Wessam Mankoula, Emergency Operations Centre Lead at Africa CDC, looked at experiences from Senegal, Uganda and Lao PDR to highlight the critical role that PHEOCs have played in their country’s response, the challenges they have faced, and why they need to be at the forefront of preparing and responding to future emergencies.

Speakers:

Alioune Badara Ly, Director, Centre des Opérations d’Urgence Sanitaire (COUS), Senegal

Issa Makumbi, PHEOC Manager, Uganda

Rattanaxay Phetsouvanh, Director General, Department of Communicable Disease Control (MoH), Lao PDR

 

COVID-19 and digital transformation in emergency response: Insights from Togo, Rwanda and Guinea-Bissau

This panel, moderated by Dalberg Implement Director Steve Kisakye explored how digital transformation has affected country responses to COVID-19, the role of private sector and tech companies, and what lessons can be drawn from this for emergency preparedness and response, and health systems strengthening.

Speakers:

Hon. Paula Ingabire, Minister of ICT and Innovation, Rwanda

Hon. Cina Lawson, Minister of Digital Economy and Digital Transformation, Togo

Dr. Magda Robalo, High Commissioner for COVID-19, Office of the President, Guinea-Bissau

Adulai Bary, CEO & Founder, InnovaLab, Guinea-Bissau

 

COVID-19 in Malawi: How resilient digital health infrastructure supports effective emergency response

This masterclass, moderated by Cassie Morgan from Cooper/Smith shared the key learnings and experiences that shaped a strong national response to COVID-19 in Malawi. The discussion will address the importance of resilient digital health infrastructure, the value of investing human capitals in-country, the challenges and areas of opportunity for emergency preparedness and response, the integration of digital health solutions into existing processes and norms, and expansion of the digital health ecosystem in Malawi.

Speakers:

Annie Chauma-Mwale, Head of Epidemiology and Surveillance, Public Health Institute of Malawi

Evelyn Chitsa-Banda, Deputy Team Lead, Public Health Institute of Malawi

Maganizo Monawe, Senior Technical Advisor, Ministry of Health, Malawi

Joseph Wu, Epidemiologist and Technical Advisor, Luke International Norway, Malawi

 

Weaving in all colors: Intercultural Health Responses to COVID-19 in the Amazon

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Indigenous populations in the Amazon has demonstrated the importance of a trans-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder approach based on intercultural dialogue. This masterclass session moderated by Hivos’ Patricia Granja highlighted experiences from the Amazon regions of Ecuador, Peru and Brazil that have implications also for how other regions and countries design health interventions aimed at vulnerable and excluded populations.

Speakers:

Catalina Campo, Anthropology Specialist, Hivos, Ecuador

Nemo Andy, Health Leader, Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon, Ecuador

Lucas Albertoni, Intercultural Health Specialist, Hivos, Brazil

Juan Reategui Silva, Indigenous Nurse, Hivos, Peru

 

The importance of country leadership in emergencies

Whether COVID-19, humanitarian crises, or natural disasters that are hitting countries with increasing force and frequency, country leadership is an integral ingredient of a strong emergency response. In this fireside chat, the Foundation’s Global Director of Program Advocacy & Communications Paulin Basinga discussed with Wilhelmina Jallah, Liberia’s Minister of Health, what constitutes strong country leadership, why it is essential in emergency response and in building resilient health systems, the role of compassionate leadership, and what leadership is needed to meet the challenges of increasingly complex emergencies.

Speakers:

Paulin Basinga, Global Director of Program Advocacy & Communications, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Hon. Wilhelmina Jallah, Minister of Health, Liberia

October 12th, 2021

 

Session Opening & Keynote Speech “Stronger together - How public-private partnerships can boost emergency response”

The Foundation’s Emergency Response Deputy Director Valerie Bemo launched this second edition of the P2RF with an overview of the themes to be discussed: private sector collaboration & vaccine equity.

Following the opening remarks, Access Bank CEO Dr. Herbert Wigwe took the floor to speak about the Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID), an alliance of major private sector companies that have come together to support Nigeria's response to COVID-19 with material, logistical and financial support.

 

Addressing the Blindspot - How Private Sector Involvement Can Improve Disease Surveillance

Private sector data is a vital component of overall national disease surveillance systems and often provides the missing ‘piece’ necessary for a comprehensive view of disease burden and transmission. In this session moderated by Bram Piot from Population Services International (PSI), we explored the role of private sector data in disease surveillance and its importance in facilitating timely response to disease outbreaks In Viet Nam and Myanmar.

Speakers:

Hoa Nguyen, Executive Director, PSI Viet Nam

Moh Moh Lwin, National Director, Sun Community Health, Myanmar

 

Re-imagining EOC business models: Lessons from the Philippines' first private sector-led EOC

The Philippines Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF) is a one-of-a-kind EOC, having built its business model around a private sector-led approach that leverages both paid-for services and donor contributions. A multi-hazard EOC, the PDRF has intervened in a range of emergencies, incl. the COVID-19 pandemic.

This session will explore the business model used by PDRF, what has contributed to its success and sustainability, and how this model can be replicated in other countries and inspire a re-thinking of the funding structure of EOCs.

Speaker:

Veronica Gabaldon, Executive Director, Philippines Disaster Resilience Foundation

 

Call Data Records (CDR) as tools for preparedness and response: Insights from Ghana and Haiti

Call Data Records (CDR) are increasingly used in emergency preparedness and response, to predict the spread of diseases or to track the displacement of people following a natural disaster. Given the prevailing privacy concerns around the use of mobile phone data, the governance, distribution, and use of CDR needs to be managed well to build the necessary trust needed to leverage the benefits of CDR.

This session moderated by Jenna Slotin from the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data, explored CDR use cases, and the regulatory and governance system that have made their use possible in Ghana and Haiti. It highlighted findings on how population movements were impacted during the first and second wave of the pandemic in Ghana, how dynamic population density estimates can inform disaster resourcing, and how CDR data has been explored to provide a more accurate and reliable malaria incidence indicator in Haiti.

Speakers:

Omar Seidu, Head of Demographic Statistics and SDGs Coordinator, Ghana Stats

Xavier Vollenweider, Head of Mobile Data Partnerships, Flowminder Foundation

 

Introduction to Vaccine Equity and Delivery Sessions

A short welcome and introduction by Scott Dowell to the Foundation’s vaccine work to kick off the afternoon presentations.

 

Enabling Health and Vaccine Equity

The COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented in many ways, including the rapid spread of the disease, its expansion to practically every corner of the globe but also the rapidity with which vaccines have been developed. Yet, today, fewer than 4% of Africans are fully vaccinated against 70% in Europe and 55% in the US.

Combined with the impasse in protective equipment and treatment drugs at the start of the pandemic, the crisis has catalyzed a continent-wide debate and movement to drastically increase African manufacturing, research and vaccine production capacities and expertise.

In this fireside chat led by the Foundation’s Nigeria Country Director Jérémie Zoungrana, we heard from two of the most renown vaccine, science and health equity advocates on the continent, exploring their perspectives and proposals for how the African continent can move towards greater independence in medical and pharmaceutical supplies, and greater equity in access to health services, including vaccines.

Speakers:

Agnes Binagwaho, Vice Chancellor, University of Global Health Equity, Rwanda

Samba Sow, Permanent Secretary, National Institute of Public Health & Director of the Centre for Vaccine Development, Mali

 

A race against time: Experiences on the vaccine rollout from El Salvador, Jamaica and Mozambique

The development, manufacturing and distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines is without precedent. It has required the simultaneous immunization of billions of people in a race against the emergence of COVID-19 variations and mutations.

While most developing countries have experience in administering routine childhood vaccinations, the COVID-19 vaccines pose new challenges such as the effective identification and prioritization of vulnerable population groups, the provision of vaccines in rural and hard-to-reach areas, and the existence of harmful misinformation.

In this session, we looked at the experience of different countries (Mozambique, Jamaica and El Salvador) in managing the vaccine roll-out focusing on different key ingredients: planning & coordination (Mozambique), the use of digital platforms for managing the vaccine rollout (Jamaica) and effective logistics (El Salvador).

Speakers:

Isabel Menetiane, National EPI Manager, Mozambique

Shawn Bolton, ICT Lead for the National Vaccination Program, Jamaica

Juan Carlos Bidegain, Minister of Governance and Territorial Development, El Salvador

November 9th, 2021

 

Session Opening & Keynote Speech “Building resilience through multi-hazard approaches: Sendai after COVID-19”

Valerie Bemo provides opening remarks for this third session of the “Prepared to Respond” Learning Forum, with an overview of the agenda and themes for the day.

Mami Mizutori shared her perspectives on how the COVID-19 pandemic has propelled a rethinking of what it means to reduce disaster risks in a world that is experiencing increasingly complex emergencies. A world where natural disasters are likely to increase and biological hazards such as pandemics will further stretch health systems and infrastructure. The UNDRR is at the forefront of supporting countries’ preparedness to future emergencies and a key advocate of broad cross-sectoral and multistakeholder approaches to preparing for and managing emergencies.

Speakers:

Valerie Ngamkang Bemo, Deputy Director, Emergency Response, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Mami Mizutori, Special Representative of the Secretary General for Disaster Risk Reduction, UNDRR

 

Building effective emergency response mechanisms through multi-stakeholder coordination

This session will highlight country experiences in building broad coalitions across stakeholders to develop effective emergency response mechanisms including those for COVID-19 response.

Four experts from the national and regional organizations in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Cameroon, and Ivory Coast share their key learnings in building effective emergency response mechanisms through multi-sectoral coordination.

Learn how the pandemic has led them to progress national coordination for emergency response by bringing together stakeholders fromthe government, civil society organizations (CSOs), local non-governmental organizations (LNGOs), and the private sector to collaboratively provide more effective tailored country based responses.

Speakers:

Hema D. B. Herath, Deputy Director-General, Education, Training & Research of the Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka

Sisira Madurapperuma, Director, Preparedness and Resilient Recovery (PRR) Department, Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC), Thailand

Alain Etoundi, Director of PHEOC, Cameroon

Chérif Djibril, PHEOC Manager, National Institute of Public Hygiene, Côte d’Ivoire

 

Strengthening public health emergency prevention, preparedness and response through One Health

The devastating impact on COVID-19 - following on the heels of similar zoonotic disease outbreaks of Ebola, MERS and SARS – has highlighted the need to address the risk of spill-overs as part of global pandemic preparedness and how everyone should avoid preparedness activities being conducted in silos.

The COVID-19 crisis has brought the spotlight back on “One Health” (OH), recognizing - the issues raised by the interface of human, animal and ecosystem health.

In this session, we heard from different OH experts regarding the steps and actions they have taken in their respective countries and institutions, to implement OH, how the current crisis has influenced their thinking on OH and pandemic prevention, the challenges they have faced and the lessons they have learned in the past 18 months.

Speakers:

Neil Vora, Pandemic Prevention Fellow, Conservation International (Moderator)

Wanda Markotter, Director of Viral Zoonoses, University of Pretoria

Nitish Debnath, Country Team Lead, Fleming Fund, Bangladesh

Pepe Bilivogui, One Health Advisor, Guinea

Raymonda Johnson, Head of National Plant Protection, Ministry of Agriculture

 

Achieving social and behavioral change through effective community engagement

Communities play an integral part in EPR, not just because they are directly affected by it, but because they can make important contributions to keeping societies safe. Communities participate in simulations, disease surveillance, community sensitization and risk communication. They are an important source of information on local conditions and can contribute to addressing emerging challenges such as the tracking of rumors and misinformation.

New communication technologies such as social media and instant messaging are having a significant impact, both in terms of facilitating community engagement and influencing behavioral change.

In this session, we looked at different countries’ experiences in leveraging community insights and behavioral data to design and implement strategic and policy responses, and to propel behavioral change.

Speakers:

Danielle Pedi, Senior Program Officer, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Moderator)

Tendayi Gudo, Apostolic Women's Empowerment Trust, Zimbabwe

Franklin Moliba-Sese, Communication for Development Specialist, UNICEF, Central African Republic

Alexei Ceban, Immunization Programme Officer, WHO, Republic of Moldova

 

Keynote: “The role of local media organizations in fighting misinformation”

Tulip Mazumdar, the BBC’s Senior Global Health Correspondent, will talk to us about the new challenges that COVID-19 has surfaced in relation to impact of communication technologies and social media platforms in informing or misinforming populations, and the role that local media organizations can play to help stem the infodemic tide.

Speaker:

Tulip Mazumdar, Global Health Correspondent, BBC News

 

How to counter health misinformation in Africa: Learnings from the Africa Infodemic Response Alliance

Receiving accurate, evidence-driven and timely information can save lives in emergencies. Yet, as mass communication channels are becoming increasingly ubiquitous across the world, does this risk of false and dangerous information spreading into the remotest corners, potentially undermining critical emergency response measures?

While misinformation and rumors are as old as humanity itself, the COVID-19 crisis combined with the easy and unregulated use of mass social media communication channels, has triggered a real tsunami of misinformation.

This session explores the work that the Africa Infodemic Response Alliance (AIRA) is undertaking to support and strengthen local media organizations in fighting back against misinformation. AIRA will share the tools they and their partners are using to monitor information flows on social media platforms, and to counteract misinformation.

Speakers:

Sergio Cecchini, Infodemic Management Officer & Africa Infodemic Response Alliance Coordinator, WHO

Rabiu Alhassan, Editorial Director, GhanaFact

Ann Mumbi Ngengere, Social Content Editor, Viral Fact Africa

December 14th, 2021

 

Building a Safer Tomorrow: Global Financing for Pandemic Preparedness

Strong preparedness and resilience require significant investment in health systems, infrastructure, biosafety, research, and human capital amongst others. But many countries still do not meet the minimum requirements under the Abuja Agreement to spend at least 15% of their budgets on health.

The G20 High Level Independent Panel on Financing the Global Commons for Pandemic Preparedness and Response estimates that an additional $15 billion is needed each year to adequately finance pandemic prevention and preparedness. To close the financing gap, governments cannot act alone but will also require the participation of private sector, multilateral development banks, and philanthropy.

This session will look at the challenges of financing pandemic prevention and preparedness, and explore the existing and emerging landscape of global financing to prevent and prepare for the next health emergency.

Speakers:

John-Arne Røttingen, Ambassador of Global Health, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Marie-Ange Saraka-Yao, Managing Director, Resource Mobilization, Private Sector Partnerships & Innovative Finance, GAVI

Dianne Stewart, Head of Donor Relations, The Global Fund

 

7-1-7: A New Global Goal to Make the World Safer from Pandemics

Every country community must be able to rapidly detect, report, and respond effectively to any potential major new health threat. For this, clear performance targets need to be determined and agreed upon to evaluate timeliness of disease detection and response. We suggest a new global target of 7-1-7 whereby every suspected outbreak is identified within 7 days of emergence, reported to public health authorities with initiation of investigation and response efforts within 1 day, and effectively responded to within 7 days. In this panel discussion, we will discuss why this new global target is needed, exactly what indicators are being measured to evaluate its progress, how it can be used as an effective communication and resource mobilization tool, and how to apply it at the country level for increased accountability and effectiveness in emergency response.

Speakers:

Amanda McClelland, Senior Vice President, Prevent Epidemics, Resolve to Save Lives (Moderator)

Tom Frieden, President & CEO of Resolve to Save Lives

Olaolu Aderinola,

Deputy Director Health Emergency Preparedness and Response

Nigeria Centre for Disease Control

Mohammed Lamorde, Head of the Global Health Security Programme, Infectious Disease Institute, Uganda

Rahel Yemanaberhan, Regional Technical Advisor for East Africa, Resolve to Save Lives, Ethiopia

 

Prepared to Respond: A Fireside Chat with Valerie Bemo on the Importance of Learning from the Pandemic

In this fireside chat, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Deputy Director for Emergency Response, Valerie Nkamgang Bemo, discusses how the pandemic and the associated travel restrictions have made it imperative to create new forms of learning exchanges and the contribution that the P2RF seeks to make to link up stakeholders in the emergency response space, provide a forum for exchange and learning, and the sharing of best practices.

Speakers:

Astou Dia, Founder of A to A Partners and Co-Founder of Abidjan Impact Hub

Valerie Nkamgang Bemo, Deputy Director of Emergency Response, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation