World Health Organization (WHO) South-East Asia Regional Office (SEARO) convened the Regional Workshop on the Implementation of the WHO South-East Asia Regional Health Emergency Workforce Strategy (2025–2030) and Strengthening Regional Workforce Networks in Bangkok, Thailand, from 23–25 June 2026. The workshop brought together representatives from Member States, WHO Headquarters, WHO Country Offices and regional emergency workforce networks to accelerate implementation of the Regional Strategy and strengthen health emergency preparedness and readiness across South-East Asia.
The workshop marked another important milestone for the Region. WHO South-East Asia was the first WHO Region to develop and launch a Regional Health Emergency Workforce Strategy (2025–2030), launched at the Seventy-eighth Session of the WHO Regional Committee in October 2025. Building on this achievement, it also became the first WHO Region to convene a dedicated implementation workshop that brought together all major health emergency workforce networks—including Health Emergency Operations Centres (HEOCs), Emergency Medical Teams (EMTs) and Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN).
Over three days, participants reviewed regional and global strategic frameworks, assessed national health emergency workforce capacities, and shared experiences from recent emergencies. Through country presentations and technical discussions, Member States identified strengths, challenges and priority actions to strengthen leadership, governance, workforce development, surge capacity and coordination across emergency workforce systems.
The workshop also showcased practical approaches to health emergency workforce mapping, including the WHO South-East Asia Regional Mapping Tool, the GOARN functional exercise methodology, the WHO Western Pacific Region's STAR++ approach, and emerging applications of artificial intelligence to support evidence-informed workforce planning. Drawing on these discussions, each Member State developed a draft national implementation roadmap aligned with the Regional Health Emergency Workforce Strategy.
The final day focused on strengthening collaboration across regional emergency workforce networks. Dedicated breakout sessions for HEOC, EMT and GOARN explored opportunities for joint training, simulation exercises, technical cooperation and coordinated surge support. Discussions reinforced the Strategy's vision of a "network of networks" by connecting and strengthening existing national and regional capacities rather than creating parallel structures.
The workshop concluded with Member States reaffirming their commitment to strengthening leadership, emergency coordination and workforce readiness through implementation of the Regional Health Emergency Workforce Strategy. WHO SEARO will continue to support Member States in refining and implementing the national roadmaps, strengthening regional emergency workforce networks, and promoting peer learning and cross-network collaboration. Together, these efforts will contribute to building a stronger, more resilient and interoperable health emergency workforce across South-East Asia.