February 2017 -- WHO is working with countries to respond to crises and emergencies by ensuring effective, efficient and timely action to address public health priorities so that lives are saved and suffering is reduced; and to recover from crises by ensuring the local health system is back to functioning. WHO's new Health Emergencies Programme changes the way WHO does business, expanding from being primarily a technical and normative organization to a fully operational agency in emergencies.

• WHO in emergencies

23 December 2016 – An experimental Ebola vaccine was highly protective against the deadly virus in a major trial, according to results published today in The Lancet. The vaccine is the first to prevent infection from one of the most lethal known pathogens, and the findings add weight to early trial results published last year. The vaccine, called rVSV-ZEBOV, was studied in a trial involving 11 841 people in Guinea during 2015.

• Read the press release
• More about Ebola virus disease

May 2016 -- The recovery toolkit is online library of guidance resources to support countries in the reactivation of health services which may have suffered as a result of an emergency, such as the Ebola outbreak. These services include ongoing programmes such as immunization, maternal and child health services, infection prevention and control.

• Health systems recovery toolkit
• Twinning partnerships for improvement - recovery package
• Rebuilding health systems in the aftermath of an outbreak