National Comprehensive Avian and Human Influenza Strategy and Action Plan 2007-2009

Objectives

Mongolia’s 2007–2009 strategy and action plan provides an integrated national framework for managing avian influenza and human pandemic influenza, updating the 2006 strategic plan while retaining detailed sectoral plans. It seeks both immediate preparedness and response capacity and longer-term, sustainable strengthening across animal health, human health, emergency management, coordination, communication, and monitoring and evaluation.[1][2][3]

• Reduce the occurrence and spread of avian influenza in birds, prevent human exposure, and mitigate the health, agricultural, social and economic consequences of outbreaks and pandemics.[4][3][5]
• Prevent outbreaks in poultry, limit spread to livestock and people, and reduce the risk of pandemic influenza emerging in Mongolia or being introduced from abroad.[6]
• Strengthen animal-health surveillance, prevention, veterinary-system capacity, wild-bird surveillance and response, poultry biosecurity, pandemic planning, information and education, and strategic management.[7][3]
• Strengthen human-health surveillance, laboratory diagnosis, treatment, case management, infection control, containment, health promotion and communication in order to reduce illness and deaths and maintain essential services.[7][5]
• Develop preparedness, response and recovery capacity within existing national emergency-management and coordination arrangements, with detailed plans at every level of government.[8]
• Adjust the relative emphasis of animal health, human health and emergency coordination according to the pandemic phase, moving towards stronger human-health and emergency-management action as sustained human-to-human transmission increases.[2]

The strategy frames influenza as a multisectoral national and international risk. It aims to strengthen integrated and sustainable cooperation among government bodies, civil society, development partners and specialised institutions, while contributing to regional and global efforts against highly pathogenic avian influenza.[1][7]Mongolia’s location on three migratory-bird flyways gives surveillance of wild birds a dual purpose: protecting the country and supporting wider early warning and understanding of influenza-virus transmission.[1][3]

• Establish an Emergency Management Information System with active monitoring and evaluation, and incorporate pandemic preparedness into Community Based Disaster Management programmes.[8]
• Promote early recognition and reporting of suspicious poultry and wild-bird cases, appropriate hygiene practices, use of personal protective equipment, and public preparedness measures through information, education and communication.[8]
• Maintain a broad planning framework that identifies priority resources and supports ministry-level pandemic and business-continuity plans, rather than replacing these more detailed operational plans.[3]
• Mobilise additional government and partner resources for avian-influenza control, pandemic preparedness and sustained sectoral capacity development.[1][2]

Implementation

Implementation is based on coordinated delivery through the National Emergency Management Agency, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, and the Ministry of Health, supported by other government agencies, local administrations, international partners and civil society.[9][10]The approach integrates influenza preparedness into existing animal-health, human-health and emergency-management systems, while requiring sectors and local authorities to prepare detailed plans and strengthen their own operational capacities.[1][2]

• Lead animal-health surveillance and prevention through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, including detection of H5N1 in migratory birds, veterinary capacity building, poultry biosecurity and collaboration with the Institute of Biology and the Ministry of Nature and Environment.[7][3]
• Lead human-health preparedness through the Ministry of Health and the National Centre for Communicable Diseases, covering early detection, reporting, diagnosis, epidemiological surveillance, case management, infection control, non-pharmaceutical interventions, prevention, containment and risk communication.[5]
• Coordinate national preparedness, prevention and emergency response through the National Emergency Management Agency, which prepares the consolidated plan and serves as secretariat to the national Coordination Committee.[6]
• Engage the State Specialized Inspection Agency, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Roads, Transportation, and Tourism, Ministry of Finance, and other specialised bodies in inspection, wildlife surveillance, foreign relations, sample transport, tourism regulation, donor coordination and resource mobilisation.[7][6]

Governance arrangements vary with the pandemic stage. In the pre-pandemic period, a national Coordination Committee is chaired by the head of the National Emergency Management Agency, with professional committees in aimags and the capital city.[7]During an alert period, coordination is placed under the Minister in Charge of Emergency Situations and linked to emergency-management commissions; during a full pandemic, the structure is chaired by the Prime Minister with broader ministerial representation.[9]A United Nations Consultative Committee, chaired by the United Nations Resident Coordinator, brings together relevant United Nations agencies, the World Bank and Mongolian institutions.[9]

• Establish governor-led coordination groups at aimag, capital-city and soum levels, supported by emergency departments and chief veterinarians or doctors, and appoint volunteers at bagh and khoroo level.[6]
• Assign an internal component coordinator in each participating organisation and use technical working groups, terms of reference and sector-specific preparedness plans to coordinate activities.[9][10]
• Coordinate communication through a multisectoral working group chaired by the National Centre for Communicable Diseases, with support from the Government of Japan through the United Nations Children’s Fund.[8]
• Convene the national Coordination Committee quarterly or when urgent matters arise, hold semi-annual committee meetings on the national agenda, and convene quarterly stakeholder reviews to address progress and coordination problems.[6][10]

Monitoring and evaluation builds on existing sectoral systems but is to be reinforced through a coordinated national arrangement led by the National Emergency Management Agency.[7][10]This system is intended to track overall and sectoral progress, assess essential-infrastructure preparedness and vulnerability information, and be incorporated into the disaster-management information system while remaining compatible with regional and international avian-influenza monitoring guidance.[10]Training and simulations, including rural regional exercises, are intended to test sectoral and local plans.[2]The Minister for Emergency Situations is to report implementation and results to the Government in the fourth quarter each year.[10]

Financial planning includes an accompanying budget and indicative initial priority resource estimates, with Appendix G identified as covering requirements, available resources and funding gaps for animal and human health.[2][3][8]However, the supplied material does not specify monetary totals, allocations, unit costs, funding commitments, quantitative indicators, reporting templates, formal performance sanctions or detailed surveillance targets.[11][4][9]

Monitoring & Evaluation

Monitoring and evaluation are designed as a cross-cutting, coordinated function spanning animal health, human health, emergency management, information systems and national preparedness. The approach builds on existing sectoral monitoring structures while strengthening national coordination through the National Emergency Management Agency and its disaster-management information system.[7][10]

• Strengthen a coordinated monitoring and evaluation system that combines overall national tracking with sector-level assessments across all levels of government.[7]
• Incorporate monitoring and evaluation into the National Emergency Management Agency’s disaster-management information system, including information on essential-infrastructure preparedness and vulnerability, to support emergency-response and recovery coordination.[10]
• Align national monitoring and evaluation arrangements with regional and international avian-influenza monitoring and evaluation guidance.[10]
• Use surveillance in animal health to detect H5N1 in wild birds migrating into or through Mongolia, understand migration patterns and bird populations, and contribute to domestic and international disease-control efforts.[3]
• Strengthen human-health surveillance, laboratory diagnosis, case detection, reporting and response capacity to identify a pandemic influenza virus rapidly if it enters the country.[5]
• Use surveillance of migratory birds across Mongolia’s three migration flyways to support national vigilance and possible early warning of new virus strains.[1]
• Conduct training and simulations, including rural regional training, to test and evaluate sectoral and local preparedness plans.[2]
• Hold semi-annual Coordination Committee meetings to report on the national agenda and ongoing processes, and quarterly key-stakeholder meetings to review progress and address coordination issues.[10]
• Require the Minister for Emergency Situations to report implementation and results of the national agenda to the Government during the fourth quarter of each year.[10]
• Use national and sub-national coordination structures to support accountability, including submission of Coordination Committee matters to the Government by the emergency minister.[6]

Quantitative indicators, surveillance targets, reporting templates, formal evaluation methods and sanctions for non-performance are not specified in the supplied text.[11][7][6][3]

Costing & Financing

Financing is framed principally as resource mobilisation for preparedness, response capacity and sustained influenza-control activities. The strategy seeks additional resources and increased government investment, while assigning the Ministry of Finance a role in coordinating donors, international organisations, loans and aid.[1][7][6]

• Provide an accompanying budget as a planning and resource-mobilisation framework for avian and human influenza management.[2]
• Mobilise resources through Ministry of Finance coordination with international organisations and donors.[6]
• Recognise that priority resource requirements are indicative initial estimates rather than a complete funding requirement, and that further resources may be required to strengthen and sustain activities beyond the three-year funding framework.[3]
• Identify additional resources as necessary for enhanced emergency-management coordination, preparedness and response capacities, including support for the State Specialized Inspection Agency.[8]
• Cover animal-health capacity strengthening for the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and cooperating institutions, alongside wild-bird surveillance, poultry biosecurity, pandemic planning and strategic management.[3]
• Cover human-health capacity building, surveillance and early warning, health-system response, prevention and containment, and communication and health promotion.[5]
• Present financial requirements, secured resources and funding gaps for animal and human health in Appendix G, although the supplied text contains no monetary amounts from that appendix.[3][5]

The supplied sections do not specify budget totals, detailed allocations, expenditure estimates, financing commitments, unit costs, quantified funding gaps, currency amounts or economic assumptions.[1][4][9][8]