The United Nations Word Food Programme and World Health Organisation on Monday unveiled an innovative joint project aimed at improving humanitarian responses to health emergencies.
“Health emergencies like the West Africa Ebola response and the current COVID-19 pandemic have shown just how crucial working together as a humanitarian community is, and so we’re extremely pleased to be able to further cement our role as an enabler of humanitarian response through this collaboration with WHO,” said Alex Marianelli, WFP Director of Supply Chain.
The INITIATE2 project will bring together humanitarian aid workers, research and academic institutions, as well as international and national partners to boost knowledge sharing and skills transfer, according to a statement.
INITIATE2 will develop standardized, innovative solutions such as disease-specific field facilities and kits and test these solutions in real-life scenarios. WFP and WHO will also train logistics and health responders on their installation and use, contributing to their capacity to respond in health crises.
“The WHO-WFP-led COVID-19 Supply Chain System has already illustrated an end-to-end integration of technical and operational capacities for impact,” said Dr Ibrahima Soce-Fall, Assistant Director-General for Emergencies Response, WHO.
“With INITIATE2, WFP and WHO are now extending the collaboration to build synergies among different actors and foster innovation in this critical field, to quickly respond to health emergencies and create a conducive environment for knowledge sharing and skills transfer. This is an excellent example of how we can scale and harmonize emergency preparedness, readiness, and response," Soce-Fall added.
The project will be developed and replicated in countries for relevant personnel, combine WFP and WHO’s technical expertise and building on past experience of emergency response, according to the statement.
INITIATE2 will leverage the existing infrastructure of the UN Humanitarian Response Depot in Brindisi, southern Italy - the first in a network of six strategically located hubs around the world which store and dispatch humanitarian relief items - the statement said
The Brindisi hub is regularly used to organise large-scale emergency simulations and hosts the UNHRD Lab, where innovative emergency response products are developed and tested, the statement noted.
