The World Health Organization (WHO) recently ran a two-day pandemic preparedness exercise. Named Polaris II, the high-level simulation exercise was based around an outbreak of a fictional new bacterium spreading across the world.
Bringing together 26 countries and territories, 600 health emergency experts, and over 25 partners, the exercise, which took place on 22 and 23 April, allowed countries to test their preparedness for pandemics and other major health emergencies, including activating their emergency workforce structures, information flow, and coordination with each other, partners, and WHO.
Building on the success of Polaris I held in April 2025, which focused on a fictional virus, 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 is possible when we act together. It demonstrated that global cooperation is not optional – it is essential,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “This is the purpose of the Global Health Emergency Corps: coordination 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.
Exercise Polaris II is part of HorizonX, WHO’s forward-looking, multi-year simulation exercise programme. It provides a platform to operationalise and practice emergency frameworks under real-life conditions, ensuring that collective readiness is not a periodic effort, but a continuous investment in global health security.
