Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) technical guidance: Essential resource planning
To view all of WHO’s country and technical guidance on COVID-19 please visit our publications hub
WHO surge calculators
To gauge the need for supplies/equipment and health work force requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic, WHO has developed a suite of complimentary surge calculators -- one for supplies and two for health workforce. All tools use the same base epidemiologic assumptions and classify health workforce using standardized International Labor Organization International Standard Classification of Occupations codes, but their outputs are intentionally different due to their primary focus.
Forecasting supplies, diagnostics and equipment requirements
The WHO COVID-19 Essential Supplies Forecasting Tool (ESFT) is designed to help governments, partners, and other stakeholders to estimate potential requirements for essential supplies to respond to the current pandemic of COVID-19. Although it provides an estimation of the number of cases, this calculator is not an epidemiological calculator. The focus of this tool is to forecast essential supplies: it includes estimation of personal protective equipment, diagnostic equipment, biomedical equipment for case management, essential drugs for supportive care, and consumable medical supplies.
- FAQs: WHO COVID-19 Essential Supplies Forecasting Tool (COVID-19 ESFT)
Forecasting health workforce requirements
Adaptt Surge Planning Support Tool is an Excel-based graphical tool intended for policy-makers and senior planners. It allows Member States to focus on surge planning information, such as: the number of beds required, the dates of predicted bed shortages; and the detailed human resources needed. The tool is flexible, enabling users within Member States to input epidemiological data, vary mitigation scenarios (when using the embedded standardized infection ratio V3 data) and tailor the tool to account for attack rates. The tool supports the input of hospital activities and practices, hospital capacity, and human resources for health capacity.
Health Workforce Estimator estimates the required number of each type of health worker based on the target number of mild, moderate, severe and critical patients per day. It also provides an analysis of the throughput of mild, moderate, severe and critical patients in multiple facilities, and highlights workforce gaps for each type of health worker.
Donations of in-kind critical items
Companies wishing to donate supplies to WHO as part of the COVID-19 emergency response are requested to complete the below form.
WHO is currently only accepting offers of critical items listed in the Emergency Global Supply Chain Catalogue (see below). Minimum requirements are noted within the application form.
Companies are required to submit quality certifications for all items. Prior to the acceptance of any in-kind donation, WHO will review all certifications to ensure they meet WHO minimum technical specifications.
Emergency global supply chain system catalogue
The following catalogue lists all medical devices, including personal protective equipment, medical equipment, medical consumables, single use devices, laboratory and test-related devices that may be requested through the COVID-19 Supply Portal.
- Access the supply chain publication
List of priority medical devices for COVID-19 case management
This list present the different types of medical devices including medical equipment, personal protective equipment (PPE), and other medical supplies for the management of COVID-19 patients. The list describe alternative options that should be considered based on available infrastructure, health workforce and technologies. These devices are listed in no priority order. Please note some are capital equipment that requires accessories, spare part and extended warranties, for more information please consult the technical specifications listed below and the manufacturer’s recommendations.
- Access the medical devices document
Technical specifications for invasive and non-invasive ventilators for COVID-19
These technical specifications describe the minimum requirements that invasive and non-invasive ventilators must comply with to ensure quality, safety and effectiveness when used for the management of COVID-19. All these ventilators should be provided with accessories, consumables and spare parts as required to operate for minimum duration of 3 months. It is advisable to follow the maintenance guidance for the replacement of accessories and consumables, and for the safe decontamination of the reusable parts provided by the manufacturer.
- Access technical specifications for invasive and non-invasive ventilators (15 April 2020)
Oxygen sources and distribution for COVID-19 treatment centres
This interim guidance on oxygen sources and distribution strategies for COVID-19 treatment has been adapted from WHO and UNICEF’s technical specifications and guidance for oxygen therapy devices, which is part of the WHO medical device technical series. This guidance is intended for health facility administrators, clinical decision-makers, procurement officers, planning officers, biomedical engineers, infrastructure engineers and policy-makers. It describes how to quantify oxygen demand, identify oxygen sources that are available, and select appropriate surge sources to best respond to COVID-19 patients’ needs, especially in low-and-middle income countries.
- Access the treatment centres publication (4 April 2020)