Sri Lanka conducts Strategic Risk Assessment Workshop with comprehensive WHO toolkit

Sri Lanka conducted a Strategic Risk Assessment Workshop from 16-18 May 2023 to complement the International Health Regulations (IHR, 2005) core capacity of preparedness.

Under the preparedness core capacity, a country is required to identify priority public health risks and map existing resources for response, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.

During the Joint External Evaluation of the IHR Core Capacities in Sri Lanka (2017) it was identified that multiple stakeholder participatory risk mapping and staff capacity building for risk assessment needed further strengthening.

According to the WHO, this workshop was an effort to bring together these stakeholders and build their capacities in risk assessment.

The workshop was led by the Ministry of Health with national and subnational representation from a wider multi-stakeholder group including representatives of animal health, agriculture, and environment sectors.

A total of 60 participants attended the three-day workshop where a comprehensive hands-on approach was utilized to enable discourse among stakeholders on hazards, and their likelihood and potential impact on the health and non-health sectors and on a society as a whole in the Sri Lankan context.

The WHO says its Strategic Toolkit for Assessing Risks (STAR) was utilized as the resource package for this workshop.

“The early stages of an emergency response are a test to how well a country is prepared to respond in emergencies. This includes having plans and resources in place at both the local and national levels. If the country considers the risks and plans accordingly, this will lead to be better prepared to handle a threat and reduce the time and costs involved in responding to an emergency. This approach aims to make emergency response more effective and minimizes the negative impact of potential emergencies, such as unnecessary illnesses and deaths,” the WHO said in a media release.

The purpose of the workshop was to help Sri Lanka assess the public health risks related to known hazards. By identifying these risks, the country can prioritize actions and make plans to be ready for potential emergencies. The goal was to support the country in increasing its preparedness and ability to respond at a national level.

The Strategic Toolkit for Assessing Risks offers a comprehensive toolkit that enables to rapidly conduct a strategic and evidence-based assessment of public health risks for prioritization of interventions for health emergency preparedness and disaster risk management in line with the IHR (2005) and Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030).

The workshop consisted of key steps which included the identification of hazards, the evaluation of likelihood, the evaluation of impact, the determination of risk level and the development of a risk profile. The last step was to identify actions and next steps pertaining to the management of hazards.

During the process of developing the risk profile several hazards including floods, landslides, dengue, infectious diseases of pandemic potential and landslides were identified as high risk.

The actions and next steps included identification of prevention, preparedness and mitigation actions for each hazard. They will be integrated into national action plans including the National Action Plan for Health Security (2024-2030). Further to this, the risk assessment will be utilized in policy and advocacy efforts, planning and development of strategies and capacity building of workforce.