Report on – 33rd IC Resolution 3: Time to act: Tackling epidemics and pandemics together (33IC/19/R3) – Switzerland

Has your State/National Society/Institution incorporated the commitments contained in this resolution into the relevant strategic or operational plans?

The commitments are incorporated into:
Strategy

At the National, Local level

Explanation:

During the state of emergency in Switzerland (March 2020 – April 2021), nationwide measures prevailed. On 16.04.2021, the Federal Council announced that the country would ease restrictions in a three-step, gradual way. Finally, on 01.04.2022, the Federal Council announced the decision to lift all nationwide measures. From that point on, measures have been decided at the cantonal level. The Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) reports on this pledge from a national perspective.

The Swiss Red Cross (SRC) has been an integral part of the execution of the measures in the framework of the COVID-19 pandemic at a national level in Switzerland. As a key stakeholder to the FOPH, it has provided a wide range of services to the population, among them the provision of medical care training to military forces, and the deployment and mobilization of a great number of volunteers to aid the medical sector and community volunteers. Volunteers and staff from the SRC were also central to the execution of the national vaccination plan.

Beyond the cooperation with the SRC, actors from various sectors were at the core of the national response. The response to question 2 details this further.

Has your State/National Society/Institution been working with other partners to implement the commitments contained in this resolution?

Partner with:
National Red Cross or Red Crescent Society in your country
Academia
Other

Examples of cooperation:

During the first (February-August 2020) and second (August 2020 – October 2021) waves of the pandemic, the FOPH kept close cooperation with key civil society stakeholders. For example, task forces enabled to feed multisectoral dialogue into decision-making on national-level strategies. These task forces covered different areas of work, e.g., measures or the impact of COVID-19.

Furthermore, during the first months of the first wave (April -June 2020) a platform was set up by the NGO Staatslabor which enabled a dialogue between civil society and public authorities. The main objective of the Krisenstab des Bundesrats Corona (Coronavirus Crisis Unit of the Federal Council) was to better channel civil society engagements and voices. In this platform, online forms were available for civil society to share concerns and thoughts with authorities, as well as for key actors of the private sector to coordinate procurement, production and deployment of medical supplies.

Have you encountered any challenges in implementing the commitments contained in this resolution?

With challenges on:
Lack of specific knowledge/expertise
Lack of capacity and/or support (technical, financial, or other)

Details about challenges:

Currently, the national pandemic plan is being revised envisaging a new edition in the following months. The lessons learned from the pandemic are to be fed into the new plan. Evaluation reports were conducted by several institutions and universities in Europe as well as the Federal Chancellery[1]^{, [2], [3],} suggesting that during the first wave of the pandemic, there was a lack of formal stakeholder management structures at the FOPH, leading to difficulties in the attempt to mobilize and coordinate stakeholders rapidly.

However, reviews of the second wave showed improvement in this matter. Processes and structures such as setting up multisectoral task groups or platforms to connect civil society and public authorities have proven to be successful. These lessons learned are valuable to consider in future health crisis and will enable the FOPH to follow-up adequately on the commitments of the resolution.

[1] Balthasar, Andreas; Essig, Stefan; von Stokar, Thomas; Vettori, Anna; von Dach, Andrea; Trageser, Judith; Trein, Philipp; Rubinelli, Sara; Zenger, Christoph; Perrotta, Maria; Weiss, Günter (2022): Evaluation der Krisenbewältigung Covid-19 bis Sommer 2021. Schlussbericht zuhanden des Bundesamts für Gesundheit, Fachstelle Evaluation und Forschung (E+F), Luzern, Zürich, Bern.

[2] Bk, B. (n.d.). Auswertung des Krisenmanagements in der ersten Phase der Covid-19-Pandemie. https://www.bk.admin.ch/bk/de/home/dokumentation/medienmitteilungen.msg-id-81578.html

[3] Bundesrat, D. (n.d.). Auswertung des Krisenmanagements in der zweiten Phase der Covid-19-Pandemie. https://www.admin.ch/gov/de/start/dokumentation/medienmitteilungen.msg-id-89412.htm

Have the commitments contained in this resolution had an impact on the work and direction of your State/National Society/Institution?

Type of Impact:
Cooperation between Government/public authorities and National Society has been strengthened
Innovative tools/methodologies have been developed and are utilized

Details about the impact:

In line with the commitments of the resolution, the lessons learned illustrated in the previous questions were taken into consideration and will prospectively have a positive influence on the cooperation between public authorities and the SRC, as well as further stakeholders in the medical, economic and social field.

Have the commitments contained in this resolution had an impact on the communities that your State/National Society/Institution serves?

Description of the impact:

The cooperation with the SRC as well as other actors was crucial to the execution of the national strategies and measures in the fight against COVID-19. Therefore, we estimate that the commitments which are laid out in the resolution have a positive impact on the Swiss population.