The Emergency Management Centre-Animal Health (EMC-AH) activity report reflects how through the core pillars of its strategic action plan: preparedness, response, incident coordination, collaboration and resource mobilization, EMC-AH contributed to strengthening resilience of livelihoods to animal health-related emergencies and zoonoses. The report addresses EMC-AH performance and actions for the twelve-month period of November 2020–October 2021 and illustrates EMC-AH’s commitment to transparency and accountability. Despite restrictions imposed due to the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic, EMC-AH continued to effectively and rapidly support FAO divisions, country and regional offices, and international partners, to reduce the threat of animal diseases to food security, agricultural development, social stability and trade.

With lessons learned from COVID-19, a world-leading expert on pandemic preparedness proposes a pragmatic plan urgently needed for the future of global health security. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed how unprepared the world was for such an event, as even the most sophisticated public health systems failed to cope. We must have far more investment and preparation, along with better detection, warning, and coordination within and across national boundaries. In an age of global pandemics, no country can achieve public health on its own. Health security planning is paramount. Lawrence O. Gostin has spent three decades designing resilient health systems and governance that take account of our interconnected world, as a close advisor to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO), and many public health agencies globally. Global Health Security addresses the borderless dangers societies now face, including infectious diseases and bioterrorism, and examines the political, environmental, and socioeconomic factors exacerbating these threats. Weak governance, ineffective health systems, and lack of preparedness are key sources of risk, and all of them came to the fore during the COVID-19 crisis, evenÑsometimes especiallyÑin wealthy countries like the United States. But the solution is not just to improve national health policy, which can only react after the threat is realized at home. Gostin further proposes robust international institutions, tools for effective cross-border risk communication and action, and research programs targeting the global dimension of public health. Creating these systems will require not only sustained financial investment but also shared values of cooperation, collective responsibility, and equity. Gostin has witnessed the triumph of these values in national and international forums and has a clear plan to tackle the challenges ahead. Global Health Security therefore offers pragmatic solutions that address the failures of the recent past, while looking toward what we know is coming. Nothing could be more important to the future health of nations.

Overall, the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, with significant leadership and expertise from the Ministry of Health, is conducting a significant amount of work to protect and strengthen national public health security, including accounting for innumerable lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic. The WHO Joint External Evaluation (JEE) team appreciated that several new laws and ministerial orders were enacted from 2019–2022 to respond to COVID-19, with a new, comprehensive public health law and updated terms of reference being discussed in parliament at the time of the external evaluation visit. In combination, the emerging set of legal mechanisms discussed with counterparts from various ministries promises to significantly modernize the entire public health emergency preparedness and response system. Information provided in the Self-Assessment Report and during meetings with national counterparts provided ample evidence of active involvement of numerous ministries with the legislative body and president's office; there appears to be a strong, concerted national effort to achieve public health goals and ultimately meet Kyrgyzstan's obligations under the International Health Regulations (IHR) 2005.

The Special Fund for Emergency and Rehabilitation Activities (SFERA) enables the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to take rapid and effective action in response to food and agricultural threats and emergencies. This annual report provides a brief description of the major operations initiated with SFERA funds for the 12-month period ending 31 December 2021. The report contains financial data for this period, as well as data since the Fund became operational.

This annual report presents the major achievements of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) in 2017, including the record adoption of 22 standards and the set-up of a phytosanitary treatment search facility. 2017 also saw continued implementation of the action plan for the Secretariat Enhancement Evaluation and ongoing changes to the IPPC Secretariat.

This report presents the results of a Round-table discussion: moving forward through lessons learned on response actions to aquatic animal disease emergencies organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in collaboration with the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) under the auspices of the project GCP/GLO/979/NOR: “Improving Biosecurity Governance and Legal Framework for Efficient and Sustainable Aquaculture Production” that was held from 16–18 December 2019 at the FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy. The meeting was attended by 43 experts from 22 countries, representing governance authorities, intergovernmental organizations, academia, research institutions and the private sector. Twenty presentations were delivered, namely: (1) National Competent Authority: role and experiences; (2) Inter-governmental organization: role and activities/experiences related to investigating specific mass mortalities of aquatic animals; (3) Producer and research/academic sectors: role and activities/experiences related to investigating specific mass mortalities of aquatic animalsand (4) Global Burden of Animal Diseases (GBAD). The meeting successfully achieved its objective of taking stock and sharing experiences and lessons learned which were used for generating recommendations for the further development and improvement of the draft FAO Decision-tree for dealing with aquatic animal mortality events and supporting guidance. The meeting generated an annotated table of contents for this decision-tree document with the following major sections, namely: Introduction; Phases in an Emergency; Elements of an Emergency Response (Preparedness Phase, Response Phase, Recovery Phase); Decision-tree for Mass Mortality Events; Conducting Field Investigation; Tools and Guidance; and Case Study Examples. It is expected that this document will be made available in 2021.