Joint external evaluation of the International Health Regulations (2005) core capacities of the United Republic of Tanzania -Zanzibar

Book excerpt: The United Republic of Tanzania–Zanzibar completed its first Joint External Evaluation (JEE) from 22 to 28 April 2017. The present review, which took place just over six years later (21–25 August 2023), was the second JEE for Zanzibar. It was also the world’s 133rd JEE (in 122 countries) and the 55th in the WHO African Region. The Joint External Evaluation (JEE) team expresses its appreciation to Zanzibar for its commitment to health security and for volunteering for a JEE for the second time. This evaluation was conducted using the JEE tool version 3. This revised third edition of the tool incorporates lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and other public health emergencies. It was realized that the level of capacity that was previously thought to be sufficient was not. Consequently, the tool was substantively reworked, and the standard has been increased throughout. This makes it particularly important to emphasize that direct comparison of scores alone is both invalid and contraindicated. This applies to scores between countries and also scores resulting from the use of different versions of the JEE tool.