WHO Conducts Global Pandemic Simulation Exercise Polaris II

 WHO Conducts Global Pandemic Simulation Exercise Polaris II

Global Health Emergency Preparedness Exercise Completed

The World Health Organization (WHO) concluded Exercise Polaris II on April 23, 2026—a comprehensive 2-day simulation designed to test international pandemic response capabilities. The exercise brought together 26 countries and territories, 600 health emergency experts, and over 25 partner organizations to practice coordinated responses to a fictional emerging pathogen outbreak.

Exercise Scope and Participation

Participating nations spanned all WHO regions, including Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, France, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Philippines, Thailand, and others. The simulation activated real emergency coordination structures across participating countries, allowing health officials to practice information sharing, policy alignment, and workforce surge deployment under realistic conditions.

Key Frameworks Tested

The exercise operationalized two WHO frameworks:

1. Global Health Emergency Corps (GHEC) – Guides countries in strengthening emergency health workforce capacity based on sovereignty, equity, and solidarity
2.  National Health Emergency Alert and Response Framework – Outlines essential coordination systems and response functions at local, sub-national, and national levels

The simulation also explored AI-enabled tools for workforce organization and planning.

WHO brings countries together to test collective pandemic response

4 April 2025 News release Geneva 

Over the past two days, WHO convened more than 15 countries and over 20 regional health agencies, health emergency networks and other partners to test, for the first time, a new global coordination mechanism for health emergencies.

The two-day simulation, Exercise Polaris, tested WHO’s Global Health Emergency Corps (GHEC), a framework designed to strengthen countries’ emergency workforce, coordinate the deployment of surge teams and experts, and enhance collaboration between countries.

The exercise simulated an outbreak of a fictional virus spreading across the world.

Participating countries included Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ethiopia, Germany, Iraq, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mozambique, Nepal, Pakistan, Qatar, Somalia Uganda and Ukraine, with additional countries as observers. Each country participated through its national health emergency coordination structure and worked under real-life conditions to share information, align policies and activate their response.

Regional and global health agencies and organizations, including Africa CDC, European CDC, IFRC, IOM, UNICEF and established emergency networks such as the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network, the Emergency Medical Teams initiative, Stand-by partners and the International Association of National Public Health Institutes, worked together to support country-led responses. More than 350 health emergency experts connected globally through this exercise.

“This exercise proves that when countries lead and partners connect, the world is better prepared,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “No country can face the next pandemic alone. Exercise Polaris shows that global cooperation is not only possible – it is essential.”

Throughout the simulation, countries led their own response efforts while engaging with WHO for coordination, technical guidance and emergency support. The exercise provided a rare opportunity for governments to test preparedness in a realistic environment, one where trust and mutual accountability were as critical as speed and capacity.