Emergencies and disasters are causing devastating impacts on populations around the world. Protecting health from emergencies and climate change and strengthening health systems are goals in the WHO’s thirteenth and fourteenth Global Program of Work (GPW 13 and GPW 14).

Robust scientific evidence is needed to inform effective policies and practices across emergency prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery. However, the conduct of the reliable research to produce this evidence has proven challenging before, during, and after emergencies and disasters.

To help meet these challenges, WHO established the Thematic Platform for Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management Research Network (Health EDRM RN) in 2018, aiming to facilitate research collaboration and promote knowledge transfer including for EMTs. In 2021, the WHO Center for Health Development, the Health EDRM RN secretariat, led the development of the WHO Guidance on Research Methods for Health EDRM in a collaborative effort involving 164 experts from 30 countries.

The WHO Guidance on Research Methods for Health EDRM was expanded in 2022 with a chapter on research in the context of COVID-19 and in 2023 with a supplementary suite of online learning materials for education and training globally.

An executive summary for policy makers and program managers has recently been developed to enhance dissemination and strengthen research capacity building to advance health EDRM. Further collaboration is underway with regions and countries, academics, practitioners, and the public to generate new scientific evidence to protect health from the risks associated with all types of emergencies and disasters.