BY STEWART TICHAONA MUCHAPERA

The FP2030 East and Southern Africa Regional Hub is building emergency preparedness and response capabilities in the region through a series of online meetings with commitment-making countries based on their fragility index and the focus of their country commitment.

Oren Jusu, Director, Emergency Preparedness and Response for FP2030 East and Southern Africa, said the meetings were part of the initial assessment of the preparedness of countries in the region to respond to increasing emergencies. The region has been prone to cyclones, droughts, cholera as well as the COVID-19 pandemic. Globally, there have been more extreme weather events brought on by climate change, including in the East and Southern Africa region, as well as armed conflict and internal displacement of communities.

“The meetings provided additional information on the FP2030 Emergency Preparedness and Response) strategy and the establishment of an emergency preparedness and response Centre of Excellence, to be established to provide technical assistance to countries to enhance the operationalization of their commitment,” said Jusu.

Jusu added that the meetings also provided an opportunity to understand the gaps in countries in case of emergencies, which include lack of coordination mechanisms, supply chain challenges, lack of adequate financial resources, a capacity gap among health care providers, and lack of comprehensive health and emergency response policies that integrate family planning.

During the round of meetings, it was noted that some countries such as Kenya, Ethiopia, and South Sudan among others have structures and procedures in case of an emergency, so only need to strengthen these systems. These can form a cohort of countries for other countries that need to create their own systems will learn from.

The hub has already embarked on an exercise to map out existing and potential partners to advance how family planning can be implemented in case of emergencies.

“We have already begun conversations with possible partners, that include UNFPA, Climate Action Network (CANT) Tanzania, Oasis du Sahel and Pathfinder to explore possible partnership opportunities and strengthen the family planning responses in case of disasters a in the region.”