Mauritius conducted a national public health risk profiling exercise with participation from key stakeholders and  support from The world Health Organization from 22-25 February to better understand risks and prepare for future emergencies and disasters.

The Mauritius Ministry of Health and Wellness (MoHW), the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Command, Ministry of Finance and Planning, Ministry of Agro Industry and Food Security, Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, Ministry of Social Security, Ministry of Gender and Inequality, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Tourism, Meteorological Services, the Special Mobile Forces, The Indian Ocean Commission and other stakeholders contributed in the  assessment of public health risk. 

 Some 40 multisectoral experts, used the WHO Strategic Toolkit for Assessing Risk (STAR) to identify and prioritize the country's public health risks and related necessary preparedness and response actions for the health system.

The STAR toolkit used to assess health emergency risks for all hazards is aligned with the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005) and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction commitments. STAR also facilitates the development of robust policies, strategies and plans to address the vulnerabilities countries can face regarding priority health emergencies and disasters.  STAR offers a stepwise approach to identify hazards facing the country, describe the seasonality and likelihood to occur, and assess their potential impact on the health system.

Finally, participants discussed operationalisation of the risk matrix  to inform capacity-building and readiness actions based on the results. Mauritius has consolidated the risk information and prioritization from STAR to provide further evidence for the finalization of the National Action Plan for Health Security (NAPHS) which is under development, with the support of WHO since November 2022.

Following the workshop, the Mauritius Ministry of Health and Wellness and multisectoral partners agreed to:  

• Update and test contingency plans for priority risks;

• Link the results of the risk profile to health system capacity development and multi-hazard response operational planning;

• Reconvene stakeholders from the STAR exercise by end of April 2023 to apply the risk profile and finalize the National Action Plan for Health Security (NAPHS) and future planning processes; and
• Reinforce all-hazards coordination mechanisms to support collaboration during emergency preparedness and response phases.

“The aim of the workshop is to conduct a multi-hazard assessment with the participation of different relevant sectors and ministries to consolidate preparedness and contingency plans in the event of emergencies. The STAR result for the health sector will provide the evidence base for the National Action Plan for Health Security.  Furthermore, the hazards are marked across a calendar year indicating their peak seasons, thereby enabling adequate preparedness and resource allocation”.  

The Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Kailesh Kumar Singh Jagutpal

“For small island development states which are the most vulnerable to climate change while they are the least contributors to it, these risks analysis are important, including to prepare and therefore prevent and mitigate the risks links to climate change. Over time countries  will accumulate data that will enable  better evidence based decision but also to form  stronger advocacy for more global actions on climate change.”

WHO Representative Mauritius, Dr Anne Ancia