A public health emergency operations centre (PHEOC) exists to coordinate information and resources in order to manage responses to public health events or emergencies.
Emergency operations centres (EOCs) are used in a variety of emergencies, including natural disasters; foodborne disease outbreaks; radio-nuclear events; bioterrorism; chemical incidents; mass gatherings; blackouts; humanitarian emergencies; and disease outbreaks or pandemics. They are employed at a variety of jurisdictional levels, and range from field EOCs to local, regional, national or international EOCs. Effective communication and coordination within and between EOCs and response agencies is critical to the successful management of an emergency.
The structure and function of EOCs varies across countries and organisations; they have different capacities and resources, and use different staff, terminologies, procedures and tools. These variations pose significant challenges to the interoperability that is essential to effective coordination between EOCs and responding agencies.
In 2012, WHO's Department of Global Capacities, Alert and Response (GCR) established the Public Health Emergency Operations Centre Network (EOC-NET)[2]. EOC-NET exists to support Member States as they strengthen their capacity for effective response to public health emergencies, in line with the requirements of the 2005 International Health Regulations.
EOC-NET has four working groups focussed on priority areas in public health emergency response:
1. The EOC Communication Technology and Infrastructure (CTI) working group, which provides guidance on minimum CTI requirements and assessment tools.
2. The EOC Minimum Data Sets and Standards (MDSS) working group, which develops guidance on minimum datasets, data structure, standards and common terminologies to ensure interoperability, effective data collection, display and exchange of operational information.
3. The EOC Procedures and Plans (P&P) working group, which identifies or develops generic procedures and plans, and standard operating procedures (SOPs).
4. The EOC Training and Exercises (T&E) working group, which develops training programmes and exercises for EOC personnel.
In December 2013, WHO conducted a systematic review of public health emergency operations centres[3], in collaboration with Emory University. This review documented best practices and barriers in establishing and using EOCs for effective responses to public health emergencies. This review has been followed by four more focussed reviews exploring key elements of EOCs: communication technology and infrastructure, minimum datasets and standards, plans and procedures, and training and exercises. The results of all five reviews will be used to inform the development of a series of guidance resources and recommendations for PHEOCs.
This report summarises the four focussed reviews.