United in response: China hosts inaugural Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) training

In a significant move to enhance emergency workforce response capacities, 67 health emergency responders from 10 countries across the Asia Pacific region took part in a training on international outbreak response in Guangzhou, China, in June 2024. The training was organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Western Pacific and led by the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN). Five GOARN partners jointly delivered the training, including China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC); Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention; Japan's National Institute of Infectious Diseases; the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan; and the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in Germany. Participants were introduced to the realities of working as part of an international multidisciplinary outbreak response team on a GOARN deployment with WHO - including the challenges and opportunities.

RKI Director Dr Andreas Jansen, who facilitated the training, shared his thoughts: "It is a fantastic opportunity to deliver GOARN trainings with partners from different regions. It promotes diversity, cross-regional sharing and connectedness. GOARN provides unique opportunities to strengthen public health through these training activities."

The 67 emergency responders who participated in the training were from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Viet Nam.

Emphasizing the value of such capacity-building initiatives for emergency responders, Dr Yan Li, Deputy Director of Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said: "I hope that more public health experts will have the opportunity to participate in GOARN trainings, so that we can be fully prepared to respond to any international public health events in the future."

Leveraging emergency workforce networks to maximize interoperability

As emergencies grow in complexity, it has become increasingly critical for emergency responders to be able to collaborate across borders. The GOARN training highlighted the diversity of the emergency workforce, the importance of being able to navigate cultural differences, and the multicultural nature of working in the field during an international outbreak response mission. The event marked the first time that partners from different regions had collaborated to facilitate and deliver GOARN training, enriching the course with new experiences, best practices and diverse perspectives.

"This training is a perfect example of how closely GOARN partners work together to strengthen efforts in responding to global public health emergencies," said Dr Zhen Xu, Head of China CDC's Branch for Health Security Preparedness of the Health Emergency Center. Dr Xu reiterated the value of GOARN's approach to interoperability, stating that, as host of the training, "China CDC is looking forward to further collaboration with GOARN and WHO on field response capacity-building activities."

GOARN fosters global solidarity and shared responsibility in addressing outbreak response challenges. By building trust among outbreak response partners and solidifying emergency response networks, GOARN enhances the effectiveness of joint response efforts for future imminent outbreaks. GOARN thus contributes to the vision of the Global Health Emergency Corps (GHEC) - a framework for enhancing health emergency workforce capacity within health emergency prevention, preparedness, response and resilience work. In an increasingly interconnected world, these partnerships underscore the crucial role and leadership of GOARN in safeguarding global health. By working together, GOARN partners are paving the way for a more resilient and prepared global health community.

For more information on GOARN, click here.

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