In its informative role on the Covid-19, the World Health Organisation (WHO) shared a keynote brochure to guide the private sector on the role it could play at the local, national and global levels. Businesses can take concrete actions to:

• Protect their stakeholders and businesses against Covid-19; and
• Participate and engage in the Covid-19 response through essential supplies and financial support.

IOE’s Covid-19 business response platform and related publications on managing the crisis, teleworking and safe back to work are featured prominently in this brochure. This is the result of an accrued collaboration between IOE and WHO, through the IOE participation in the WHO’s “Private Sector Outreach Coordination Group for the Covid-19 pandemic response”. Concretely, the group provides a coordinated channel for input to WHO from the private sector. This input includes knowledge sharing on best practices and key messages. Group members include leading international business associations and private sector engagement initiatives, including IOE.

Pierre Vincensini, IOE Senior Adviser, commented that “We are pleased that the World Health Organisation recognised the critical role played by the private sector in Covid-19 response, and valued the IOE guidance. Cooperation and resources sharing on managing the health and economic crisis, teleworking and safe back to work are most needed in these challenging times. It is also an opportunity to emphasize how companies reacted the economic shock very quickly, in many cases by redirecting their production line towards essential supplies such as hand sanitizers and protective masks or provided technologies, expertise, transport, training, etc”.