(C) World Health Organization
This story was originally published by World Health Organization and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



PRET for impact: Advancing pandemic preparedness in Democratic People’s Republic of Korea [1]

[]

Date: 2025-06

On 8-9 May 2025, a core team from the DPR Korea Ministry of Public Health participated in a two-day virtual workshop. The workshop included a mini-simulation exercise and was organized by WHO SEARO in collaboration with WHO’s Preparedness and Resilience to Emerging Threats (PRET) Secretariat at WHO Headquarters and the WHO Country Office for DPR Korea.

Adapted from WHO’s Exercise panPRET-1, the simulation focused on a fictional influenza outbreak to test national systems for surveillance, risk assessment and response coordination. The exercise highlighted both strengths and areas for improvement in DPR Korea’s preparedness planning.

Key outcomes of this exercise included:

a trained cadre of national facilitators ready to lead future simulation exercises; and

a roadmap for revising the National Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Plan (NIPPP) to include respiratory pathogens.

Building on the experience from an in-person regional simulation exercise held in 2024, this event highlighted the value of knowledge sharing and developing practical skills through virtual engagement to build a sustainable, country-led response.

The existing NIPPP was updated in 2019, with the inputs from in-country workshop supported by experts from all levels of WHO. Looking ahead, DPR Korea plans to conduct a national multisectoral workshop and simulation exercise later in 2025, led by newly trained facilitators. These efforts will directly support the ongoing revision of the current NIPPP into broader PRET based plan and contribute to stronger national health security.



[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/detail/pret-for-impact--advancing-pandemic-preparedness-in-democratic-people-s-republic-of-korea

Published and (C) by World Health Organization
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/who/