Mobile laboratories for public health emergencies: ZIG hosting the launch of the WHO GOARN RRMLs Interregional Field Exercise

On 3-4 May 2023, five meeting rooms at the RKI in Berlin-Wedding turned into a simulated emergency scenario space, kicking-off the first module of the Full-Scale Interregional Field Simulation Exercise (IFX) for the Rapid Response Mobile Laboratories (RRMLs) of the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN). In partnership with the Emergency Programme of the WHO Regional Office for Europe, the WHO Collaborating Centre for GOARN (WHO GOARN CC) at the Centre for International Health Protection (ZIG) hosted the first module of the IFX, welcoming 19 RRMLs- and emergency response experts from 13 organisations from beyond the WHO European Region. The event was hybrid, with additional participants from GOARN partners attending virtually. The Interregional Field Simulation Exercise is part of trajectory series of activities by the WHO Regional Office of Europe to strengthen the capacities of Rapid Response Mobile Laboratories, throughout which RKI has been a key technical and strategic partner.

A group picture at RKI with exercise participants, WHO exercise management team and the ZIG participating members (Source: RKI)

The GOARN IFX consists of three individual modules covering the entire life cycle of Rapid Response Mobile Laboratories linked by a complex emergency scenario and sequence of events. The simulation exercise allows a comprehensive investigation of and a systematic feedback into the newly established minimum standards for Rapid Response Mobile Laboratories, along their applicability and feasibility in the field. Furthermore, the exercise aims to test and strengthen coordination procedures and the interoperability between the Rapid Response Mobile Laboratories and other operational partners, incl. Emergency Medical Teams (EMTs).

This first IFX module at RKI followed a Tabletop Exercise (TTX) approach and marked a collaboration across the ZIG units, whose members contributed to the exercise with their diverse capacities, ranging from technical laboratory experiences to emergency response. While ZIG 4 and the WHO GOARN CC at ZIG 1 co-organised the event in liaison with the WHO, eight members from across the ZIG units supported the implementation as technical validators, role players or reporters.

On the first day of the event, participants dived into the early stages of the RRML lifecycle, simulating the request of assistance for surge response capacities as well as the follow-up decision-making procedures (incl. the execution of simulated scoping missions). The guided TTX scenario brings participants into identifying on-site operational and technical specifications towards finalising fit-for-purpose response offers, in preparation for the second and third modules of the exercise in Istanbul and Tel Aviv in June and October 2023 respectively. The second day continued with an After-Exercise Review, where participants reflected on the opportunities and challenges experienced in the exercise in relation to the minimum standards in the early phases of the lifecycle for Rapid Response Mobile Laboratories.

At the end, the event was not only an asset towards strengthening technical, operational and coordination capacities of RRMLs, but it created an opportunity for networking, expanding the RRML community and developing a joint awareness of existing emergency response capacities between a multitude of partners.

A simulated WHO meeting on the emergency scenario situation in the fictious country “Globalland” (Source: RKI)

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