SHIFTS – The COVID-19 Pandemic: shifting the world and shaping its response

Overview

Since 2014 Member States of the WHO South-East Asia Region have strengthened emergency risk management as one of the Region’s Flagship Priority Programmes. Achieving full compliance with the International Health Regulations (2005) has been a key area of work, and significant progress had been made prior to the emergence and spread of COVID-19. In recent years, and in the early months of the pandemic, WHO has supported countries to build capacity in field epidemiology, laboratory skills, clinical management and risk communication among other priority areas. The Region has never been more ready to tackle a challenge as immense as COVID-19.