A high-level simulation exercise, based around an outbreak of a fictional new bacterium spreading globally, allowed countries to recently test their preparedness for pandemics and other major health emergencies, including activating emergency workforce structures and co-ordinating with each other and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Exercise Polaris II brought together 26 countries and territories, 600 health emergency experts and over 25 partners during the high-level simulation exercise organised by the WHO on 22-23 April. Building on the success of Polaris I, held in April 2025, each participating country activated its emergency coordination structure and worked under real-life conditions to share information, align policies and surge their workforce.
“Exercise Polaris II showed what’s possible when we act together. It demonstrated that global cooperation is not optional – it is essential,” noted WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “This is the purpose of the Global Health Emergency Corps: co-ordination across the emergency workforce, building trust, strengthening connections, and working as one across borders.”
The simulation put two key WHO frameworks into practice, the Global Health Emergency Corps (GHEC) framework and the National health emergency alert and response framework, and explored the use of AI-enabled tools to support workforce organization and planning.
The GHEC framework, published in June 2025, provides guidance on how countries can strengthen their health workforce to respond to emergencies based on the principles of sovereignty, equity and solidarity. It improves collaboration between countries by supporting information exchange and strengthening the deployment of regional and global emergency personnel when needed.
The national health emergency alert and response framework, published in October 2025 outlines the key functions, coordination systems and actions needed for an effective response at local, sub-national and national levels.
“By simulating the spread of a dangerous pathogen under real-life conditions, Exercise Polaris II helped us turn existing plans into action. It is not enough to have plans on paper – what matters is how they perform in practice,” said Edenilo Baltazar Barreira Filho, Director of the Public Health Emergencies Department, Ministry of Health, Brazil.
