Expanding the corpus of the South-East Asia Regional Health Emergency Fund (SEARHEF)
Other Titles
Abstract
The South-East Asia Regional Health Emergency Fund (SEARHEF) is an operational fund of the SE Asia Region established in 2008 to provide support to the health sector response of Member States during emergencies. This Response Stream funding mechanism is designed to provide financial support for the first three months following a disaster that occurs in an affected country to support life-saving health interventions. At the Sixty-ninth session of the Regional Committee, the scope of SEARHEF was expanded to cover a Preparedness Stream with the objective of further supporting preparedness initiatives in the Region. Both streams of the Fund are governed by a Working Group comprising Members nominated by Member States of the Region. The Working Group meets regularly to assess the utilization of SEARHEF both the Preparedness and Response streams and advise the Secretariat. Till date, 49 emergencies in 10 Members States have been supported and a total disbursement of over US$ 8 million has been made under response stream of SEARHEF.Based on the recommendation of the SEARHEF Working Group meeting of August 2023, the Seventy-sixth session of the Regional Committee advised the Secretariat to analyse the needs and gaps of Member States in responding to emergencies. Accordingly, a detailed analysis of SEARHEF utilization, needs and gaps was undertaken. This included in-depth interviews of senior officials and advisers of Member States and Working Group members, and review of policy documents and utilization reports.Considering the needs and gaps, the Working Group for governance of SEARHEF at the virtual meeting convened in July 2024 advised the Secretariat to propose to the Seventy seventh Session of the Regional Committee to increase the corpus of SEARHEF to US$ 3 million with effect from the 2026–2027 biennium with possible roll-over of unspent balance. The Seventy-seventh session of Regional Committee in 2024 endorsed the increase of the corpus of the SEARHEF 2.0 to US$ 3 million with effect from 2026–2027 biennium; to roll over unspent balances to subsequent biennium; and to merge the Response stream and Preparedness stream for improved efficiency.The Secretariat during the intervening period widely consulted and drafted revised Policies and Business Rules for the SEARHEF 2.0 (Annex-2), elaborating on guiding principles including accountability, transparency and flexibility; criteria for allocation of funds, allocation of funds under various categories including for response, preparedness stockpiling and governance; and other changes to streamline the processes for fund release to make them agile and efficient. The Working Paper with revised and updated Policies and Business Rules for the SEARHEF 2.0 was presented to the High-Level Preparatory (HLP) Meeting for its review and recommendations. The HLP Meeting reviewed the paper along with the updated Polices and Business Rules for SEARHEF 2.0 and made the following recommendations for the consideration of the Seventy-eighth Session of the Regional Committee:Actions by Member States(1) Consider the adoption of the policy document for SEARHEF 2.0 at the Seventy eighth Session of the Regional Committee. (2) Consider contributing and supporting resource mobilization for sustainability of SEARHEF including advocating with partners and donors. (3) Guide the Working Group and the Secretariat in developing a resource mobilization strategy for SEARHEF. Actions by WHO(1) Plan the implementation of the new policy from the 2026-2027 biennium coordinating with Member States as well as all three levels of the Organization. (2) Develop a comprehensive resource mobilization strategy to ensure sustainability of SEARHEF 2.0 through wide engagement with Member States, partners and donors.(3) Continue to work with the Working Group for SEARHEF ensuring transparency and accountability for the utilization of funds and report to the Regional Committee aligned with the terms of its resolutions. This Working Paper along with the HLP Meeting recommendations and updated Policies and Business Rules for SEARHEF 2.0, are placed before the Seventy-eighth Session of the WHO Regional Committee for South-East Asia for its consideration and decision.
Citation
World Health Organization. Regional Office for South-East Asia (2025). Expanding the corpus of the South-East Asia Regional Health Emergency Fund (SEARHEF). World Health Organization. Regional Office for South-East Asia. https://iris.who.int/handle/10665/382502
Journal
Relation
Relation
Temporal Coverage
Statement of Responsibility
Description
Table of Contents
Version
Sponsorship
PMID
PMCID
Document number
SEA/RC78/7
ISBN
ISSN
ISMN
Identifiers
Other Identifiers
Format
Language
English