RKI experts support a Health Security Capacity Assessment in Kosovo

From 8 to 12 May 2023, the WHO Regional Office for Europe, its “Health Emergencies Balkan Hub” together with the WHO Country Office in Kosovo facilitated a Health Security Capacity Assessment (HSCA) in Kosovo. The assessment was based on the Joint External Evaluation (JEE) tool, which helps countries assess their capacities to prevent, detect, and respond to public health threats, and by identifying the most critical gaps within the country’s human and animal health systems according to the International Health Regulation (IHR, 2005). Based on this, opportunities and key actions for the countries’ multisectoral preparedness and response are prioritised. To date, including earlier versions, the tool has been used in around 120 countries worldwide.

By focusing on 56 indicators for 19 technical areas, the Health Security Capacity Assessment emphasised a multisectoral discussion-based approach involving both the external evaluation team members as well as the experts from Kosovo. The external evaluation team in Kosovo consisted of 15 technical experts from eight countries, coming from various national public health institutes, ministries of health, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), and other research institutes under the leadership of WHO. In this context, two experts from the RKI, namely from unit 31 (Focal Point for the Public Health Service, Crisis Management, Outbreak Investigations and Training Programmes) and from ZIG 2 (Evidence-based Public Health), participated as technical experts in the team. They led the technical areas of “Health Emergency Management” and “Infection Prevention and Control”, respectively.

In addition, another expert from unit 31 attended the mission as an observer. Unit 31 has been collaborating with Kosovo since 2017 and is part of RKI’s project “Western Balkan Strategic Partnership for Health Protection” (WASP) within the Global Health Protection Programme (GHPP) of the German Federal Ministry of Health. Prior to the assessment week, the Kosovar authorities had been requested to self-evaluate their capacities in relation to the above-mentioned 19 technical areas with a score ranging from 1 to 5. “1” indicates that the technical area has not been implemented; “5” means that “implementation has occurred, is tested, reviewed, exercised”, and “that the country can guarantee the sustainability of the service”. The authorities had also been requested to provide documents (reports, scientific articles, assessments, legal documents, plans and procedures etc.) to back-up the self-assessment score and for the team to better understand the implementation status.

During the assessment week, the experts reviewed the self-evaluation data provided for their technical area in depth, and participated in relevant structured site visits and meetings organised by the host country. The scores were then finally reviewed in a plenary session chaired by the respective technical expert of the external evaluation team. By a peer-to-peer, consensus-based approach, the national and international experts conveyed a final score and key recommendations. This assessment provided useful insights in the host country’s capacities and capabilities regarding the implementation of IHR (2005) and led to the formulation of around 70 key recommendations. After the assessment, a comprehensive draft report was produced. It includes the final scores, host country’s capacities in each of the technical areas, as well as the priority actions and recommendations.

Impressions from a session during the Health Security Capacity Assessment in Kosovo (Source: RKI)

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