Prevention and Management of Public Health Events
Collaborative Arrangement for the Prevention and Management of Public Health Events in Civil Aviation (CAPSCA)
The CAPSCA programme provides a platform for the global management of public health emergencies impacting the aviation sector. It involves close collaboration between ICAO, the World Health Organization (WHO), Centres for Disease Control (CDC), International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations (IFALPA), Airports Council International (ACI), other international aviation organizations and Member States. In 2016 further collaborative discussions were held with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), CDC and Shoreland Travax (a commercial company based in Washington that provides independently researched risk-mitigation travel recommendations to medical professionals in private, corporate and governmental health settings).
Two regional training events were held in 2016, one in Cairo in March and the other in Budapest in October.
Four regional meetings were held in 2016 — the Middle East (Cairo), Europe (Budapest), the Americas (Mexico City) and Asia-Pacific (Bangkok). The Global CAPSCA meeting was held in Bangkok in combination with the regional Asia-Pacific meeting. The regional meeting for Africa that was scheduled for the last quarter of 2016 was postponed to 2017 and will be hosted by Zambia.
The Second Training Workgroup meeting was also held at the European regional CAPSCA meeting, where an implementation date of June 2017 was agreed for the CAPSCA on-line training project for Technical Advisors (a collaborative project between ICAO, WHO and the Joint Aviation Authority Training Organisation (JAA ATO).
Three State Letters were published addressing Zika, Ebola and the CAPSCA strategy, respectively. Member States were requested to nominate a CAPSCA focal point and to complete a survey regarding their needs in terms of the CAPSCA programme. The survey results were used to review the CAPSCA strategy and to develop the CAPSCA business plan for the next three years. The revised CAPSCA strategy was well received by participants at all four regional meetings and the global meeting.
The programme has been funded to date by donations and contributions from States and international organizations. Funding from the major donor, the UN Ebola Multi-Partner Trust Fund, ended in December 2016. ICAO has submitted a request for an extension of funding until July 2017 to enable completion of the Africa objectives. Additional funding is needed to achieve further capacity-building and to maintain implementation initiatives, which will be priorities for 2017.
