Review Committee on the Functioning of the International Health Regulations (2005) during the COVID-19 Response

World Health Assembly resolution WHA73.1 requested the WHO Director-General, inter alia, to initiate a stepwise process of impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation of the WHO-coordinated international health response to COVID-19, including by using existing mechanisms such as the Review Committee under the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR).

In line with the resolution, the WHO Director-General has convened a Review Committee under the IHR:

  1. to review the functioning of the IHR during the COVID-19 response; and
  2. the status of implementation of the relevant recommendations of previous IHR Review Committees.

The Committee begins its work on 8 and 9 September 2020 and will meet regularly and report on its progress, through the Director-General, to WHO Governing Bodies.

 

Members

Dr Preben Aavitsland

Director of Surveillance, Area of Infection Control, Management and Staff, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Norway

Professor Ximena Aguilera

Director of Center of Epidemiology and Health Policy, Faculty of Medicine at Universidad del Desarrollo, Chile

Dr Seif Salam Al-Abri

Director General for Disease Surveillance and Control at the Ministry of Health of Oman

Colonel (retired) Vincent Anami

Continent Representative (Africa), Center for Disaster and Humanitarian Assistance Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health and Sciences, Friends International Centre, Nairobi, Kenya

Dr Thouraya Annabi Attia

Former Director of the Food Safety Department at The National Agency of Sanitary and Environmental Control of Products, Ministry of Health, Tunisia

Dr Carmen Aramburu Celigueta

Director of Health and Social Policy, Delegation of the Spanish Government in Catalonia, Spain

Prof Lucille Blumberg

Ms Malinee Chittaganpitch

Medical Scientist Advisor, Department of Medical Sciences, MoPH Thailand

Professor James LeDuc

Director, Galveston National Laboratory, University of Texas Medical Branch, United States of America

Dr Dexin Li

Former Director, National Institute for Viral Diseases Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, People’s Republic of China

Dr Rinat Maksyutov

Director General, Federal Budgetary Research Institution

Dr Talat Mokhtari Azad

Director, Iranian National Influenza Center, Department, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, School of Public Health, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Dr Mohamed Moussif

Chief Medical Officer at Casablanca International Airport, Morocco; National Coordinator of the Points of Entry Program of Morocco

Ms Olubunmi Ojo

Former Director, Surveillance and Epidemiology and responsible for implementation of International Health Regulations at the National Public Health Institute, Nigeria

Dr Jean-Marie Okwo-Bele

Public health consultant, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo Former director of the vaccines and immunization department, WHO Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland (Retired)

Dr Tomoya Saito

Director, Center for Emergency Preparedness and Response, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Japan

Dr Amadou Alpha Sall

Dr Mark Salter

Consultant in Global Health, Public Health England, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Professor Myongsei Sohn

Professor Emeritus, College of Medicine, Yonsei University, Republic of Korea

Prof Lothar H. Wieler