Working together to prevent and manage public health events in civil aviation

The ICAO APAC Regional Office held their 14th CAPSCA-AP meeting virtually from 17 June to 1 July, with over 200 participants from the aviation and public health sectors participating. For this meeting, the Regional Office collaborated with the World Health Organization (WHO), Southeast Asia Regional Office (SEARO) and Western Pacific Regional Office (WPRO).

Among the participants were Asia/Pacific States and administrations, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), United States FAA, ICAO, WHO, and Regional/International Organizations such as AAPA, ACI, ADB, CANSO, IATA, IFALPA, aircraft manufacturers, airlines and airports.

ICAO updated participants on CAPSCA’s contributions to ICAO Council Aviation Recovery Task Force (CART) work during the meeting. These updates also included ICAO’s Facilitation proposed amendments and an online demonstration on the PHC App.

Both WHO Regional Offices contributed to the meeting by presenting WHO updates on the recently completed 74th World Health Assembly and the WHO guide on the risk-based approach for international travel and digital documentation of covid-19 certificates.

The Regional Office also informed the audience of the revised public health-related CART Recommendation 14 on Public Health Corridors (PHC), Recommendation 17 on Testing and Vaccination Certificates, Recommendation 18 on Aircrew Vaccination and Recommendation 19 Vaccination and International Travel.

The Office highlighted CART Recommendation 20. This recommendation shows the importance of considering the ICAO’s CART guidance by the broader State administration in the decision-making processes on national recovery planning.

While China, Maldives, New Zealand and Singapore presented the States updates, ACI expressed their support for the ICAO Visual Digital Seal (VDS) initiative and highlighted their Airport Health Accreditation Programme.

IATA also discussed the scientific assessments on vaccinations with infection rates and factors related to opening borders. CAPSCA-AP/14 meeting documents and presentations are available here.

CAPSCA is an ICAO programme established in 2006 with the support of WHO and several UN agencies and international and regional partner organizations.  CAPSCA combines efforts to assist States to improve preparedness planning and response to public health events that affect the aviation sector. It also helps States’ regulatory compliance with relevant ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) and WHO International Health Regulations (2005). CAPSCA operates in the six ICAO regions and has 157 Member States globally with 27 Member States/Administrations from Asia and the Pacific Region.