The Ministry of Health and Wellness partnered with the World Health Organization to cost and validate the Mauritius National Action Plan for Health Security (NAPHS) during a five-day workshop in April 2023.     

With the support of WHO, the country was able to finalize the action plan to strengthen the national health security system drafted in November 2022. This multi-year action plan for Health Security draws on multisectoral engagement using the One Health approach to strengthen Public health emergencies detection, early preparedness, and swift response. It has been aligned with the Global Health Security strategy and the International Health Regulations 2005 (IHR) which recommends countries to strengthen, monitor and evaluate their IHR capacities for the early prevention, protection, control and response to the spread of diseases.

As a signatory of the International Health Regulations (2005), the Republic of Mauritius has already conducted voluntary and external assessments such as, respectively, the State Party Annual reporting (SPAR) and the Joint External Evaluation (JEE)  which provide insights into strengths and weaknesses in compliance with IHR capacities. Results of these evaluations, coupled with lessons learned from the national response to the COVID 19 Pandemic have enabled to identify all necessary actions to improve national capacities and define the national action plan for health security.

The country initiated preparatory work led by the Ministry of Health and Wellness in November 2022, with the participation of different ministries including Agro-Industry and Food Security, Education, Environment, Finances and Planning.  A draft strategic action plan was thus developed and subsequently costed and validated in April 2023.

The NAPHS represents an important achievement for Mauritius showing political commitment and multi-sectoral engagement to advance a comprehensive preparedness and response plan to strengthen the health security of the country. It is a milestone that sets the country to invest smartly to further protect its population and to minimize effects of outbreaks and pandemics.