Over the past ten years, Mongolia has made strides in strengthening its pandemic preparedness systems and plans. After the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mongolia identified further areas for improvement. In April 2023, with support from the PIP Framework Partnership Contribution, Mongolia conducted a three-day multi-sectoral workshop and simulation exercise.
The implementation of the Asia Pacific Strategy for Emerging Infectious Diseases and Public Health Emergencies (APSED III) culminated in the revision of their pandemic influenza preparedness plan and the conduct of a simulation exercise (Exercise PanStop) in 2018. The exercise was to test and validate, in particular, its coordination structures and the procedures for a rapid containment operation.
Four years later, to learn from their COVID-19 experience and the rapidly changing global landscape for pandemic preparedness and response, Mongolia conducted a review and ran another table-top simulation exercise. Representatives from health, emergency management, education, risk communications and customs were brought together for the exercise.
Review, plans and a simulation exercise
Post-COVID-19 lessons learned was a key theme of the initial meeting, in particular, how to improve a future response, and what the country’s ‘pandemic preparedness wish-list’ was for priority areas and functions needing to be strengthened. This was followed by a table-top simulation exercise to test the country’s multi-sectoral coordination, risk communications and community engagement, and the triggers for operational decision making.
The exercise simulated an avian influenza outbreak. It highlighted the need to take a mode-of-transmission approach to pandemic planning to be efficient and leverage existing capacities across health and other sector programmes. This is in line with the Preparedness and Resilience for Emerging Threats (PRET) Module 1: Planning for pathogen pandemics. The exercise reinforced the need for clear roles and responsibilities across different stages of a pandemic, and familiarity with the pandemic plan was critical for an effective response. Furthermore, training on health journalism was identified as an essential step in order to strengthen management of mis- and disinformation.
Multiple debriefing sessions were held including a ‘hotwash’ to identify immediate recommendations from the exercise, a more comprehensive debrief highlighting next steps, responsible agencies and risks to implementation, and a strategic debrief with the Ministry of Health to ensure continued advocacy and support for pandemic preparedness.
Continued commitment
This workshop and exercise provided participants with a unique opportunity to look back at pandemic influenza preparedness efforts prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and the national response to the pandemic in order to further strengthen preparedness. It demonstrates Mongolia’s continued commitment to being better prepared for the next pandemic.