Two decades dedicated to capacity building for preparedness and response to health emergencies

The WHO Office in Lyon, France – a center of excellence in strengthening public health laboratories – contributes to global health security and supports countries in building stronger health capacities for emergencies. Today the Office celebrates its own 20th anniversary.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the WHO and His Excellency Olivier Véran, French Minister of Health, held video remarks at the high-level event, marking the 20th anniversary.

“We have learned from the COVID-19 crisis that we need to move forward to better prepare for and respond to tomorrow’s health emergencies,” said Minister Olivier Véran. “The WHO Lyon Office will play an important role in this future global health architecture.”

The WHO and its partners have joined forces to create a WHO office based in Lyon, 20 years ago, strengthen preparedness and response to the epidemic, especially in countries with less developed health resources and infrastructure.

“The Lyon office plays a strong role in WHO’s global preparedness, preparedness and response to disease and pandemic epidemics, including COVID-19,” said Dr. Mike Ryan, Executive Director, WHO Emergency Program. “It has emerged as a center of excellence in strengthening public health laboratories, showing that the collective vision and investment of the WHO and the founders of the Lyon Office has borne fruit. I thank the French Government, Lyon Metropole and all the technical and financial partners of the Lyon Office for their continued and invaluable support over the past 20 years and in the future. “

This event brought together numerous dignitaries and high officials such as:

“Lyon Métropole is a long-term partner of the WHO. Today, it continues its 20-year commitment to the Lyon Office, contributing to the scientific leadership and strong dynamics of the health sector in the region and beyond. Its role has been, and remains, crucial in the context of the COVID-19 crisis, especially in terms of standardizing intervention practices and coordination among countries, although crises often cause withdrawal and worsen international competition. I am glad that the teams of the Office will soon be able to join, in the heart of the Bio-district of Lyon, the building where the WHO Academy will be located. This will foster synergies within the WHO and with stakeholders within our ecosystem to respond to current and future health challenges. We reaffirm, through you, the contribution of the French and Lyon metropolises to global health, ”said Bruno Bernard, President, Lyon Metropolis.

The event also attracted a panel of global and national experts from countries, national health agencies, the scientific community in Lyon and France, and the WHO to discuss and share experiences on critical aspects of public health laboratories in health emergencies.

COVID-19 has demonstrated the value of secured and well-run public health laboratories in preventing, detecting and controlling disease outbreaks, saving lives and resources. When the pandemic broke out, the Lyon office helped thousands of laboratories in more than 100 countries improve the quality of their COVID-19 testing capacity. He quickly built an online community for thousands of lab experts from more than 180 countries to engage, learn, and collaborate with each other. It also supported the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) accelerator diagnostic column.

Over the last two decades, the Lyon Office has played a key role in WHO preparedness and response to disease outbreaks and has supported countries to:

In addition, the Lyon Office has developed leading expertise in designing interactive training programs and self-learning modules to strengthen the skills and knowledge of healthcare professionals and front-line professionals in emergency preparedness, preparedness and response. Countries, organizations and health professionals can build their own training programs and learn and collaborate with each other on the Health Safety Learning Platform (HSLP) hosted by the Lyon Office, which offers a rich base of training resources and learning tools.

To prevent and mitigate the spread of disease during an epidemic, the Lyon Office guides countries and helps build their capacity to implement a risk-based scientific approach, while organizing and monitoring mass gatherings and deciding on health protocols and measures for international travelers and cross-border movement

The synergies that the Lyon Office is building with the city’s rich health ecosystem and tomorrow with the World Health Organization Academy to be hosted are key to better preparing countries and populations for the health risks they face.

The future of global health security rests on far greater commitment and investment in emergency preparedness and preparedness. With the substantial and long-term support of several technical and financial partners and the continued support of the French government and the Lyon metropolis, the WHO Office in Lyon is determined to continue to help countries develop their preparedness and response capabilities.