Health and Humanitarian Border Management: Capacity Building for Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response in Burundi and the DRC

In line with the IOM national and regional strategies for East and Horn of Africa as well as the United Nations (UN) Great Lakes Regional Strategic Framework, this project aims to address cross-border mobility and public health implications. The objective is that of promoting effective public health measures in humanitarian border management in response to any potential future disease outbreaks and other health threats whilst also strengthening the capacities of border officials to effectively prepare and deal with public health emergencies.

In order to achieve the above objective, IOM will support the establishment of a cross-border working group between Burundi and DRC including the organization of a cross-border workshop on “Humanitarian and Health Border Management” which will bring together key stakeholders from each country. The workshop aims to assess the gaps and challenges in health emergency preparedness and response, and elicit recommendations for subsequent interventions to address the problem. Additionally, IOM will provide capacity building training for frontline border control officers on ‘Health and Border Management’ and conduct simulation exercise on public health emergency preparedness to help frontline border control officers in Burundi and the DRC develop the necessary skills and knowledge to identify and recognise of symptoms of infectious and communicable diseases including practice of health protection at borders.