Assessing the implementation of the public health emergency operations centre in Ethiopia, 2017–2023

Humanitarian crises and infectious diseases remain major global and national public health concerns, emphasizing the need for strong public health emergency management systems. Ethiopia established its Public Health Emergency Operations Centre (PHEOC) in 2017 to improve preparedness and response. Assessing the PHEOC’s experience is important for generating practical insights and lessons learned, yet limited evidence exists in this area. In this perspective, we discuss the experience of PHEOC implementation in terms of its core components from August 2017 to December 2023 and identify areas that need strengthening and lessons learned for effective public health emergency response in Ethiopia. We conducted comprehensive desk reviews at the Ethiopia Ministry of Health, Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI), Regional Public Health Institutes, and Health Bureaux using the READ (Ready materials, Extract data, Analyse data, Distil) approach. The major findings were synthesized and described thematically. Between August 2017 and December 2023, the PHEOC handbook and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), training curriculum and manuals, multi-hazard emergency preparedness and response plans, and several hazard-specific response plans developed; all core staff and more than 348 national and subnational experts in PHEOC and IMS; and 190 African Health Volunteers Corps (AVoHC) SURGE folks trained in public health emergency management principles; participatedin more than 10 simulation exercises; established 14 regional and 8 subregional PHEOCs; and strengthening the capacity of neighbouring countries such as South Sudan and Somalia in public health emergency management and coordinated responses to 11 major PHEs. These underscores how a strengthened PHEOC system contributes to enhanced regional and cross-border health security and resilience against public health threats. Hence, the need to further enhance PHEOC, empowered by adequately implementing legal instruments; improving infrastructure; and conducting subsequent simulation exercises to test staff capability and PHEOC procedures, as well as plans for regional and subregional PHEOCs, is recommended.