Strengthening response to pandemics and other public-health emergencies
Report of the Review Committee on the Functioning of the International Health Regulations (2005) and on Pandemic Influenza (H1N1) 2009
Overview
Myriad health threats have the capacity to cross borders. In anticipation and response, the World Health Organization (WHO) gives voice and leadership on behalf of the global community. WHO’s principal line of defence is the International Health Regulations (2005). The emergence of the influenza A (H1N1) pandemic in April 2009 provided the first major stress test since the Regulations came into force in 2007.
This report serves two aims. First, it is an analysis of how the International Health Regulations (IHR) have so far fulfilled their purpose to provide the world adequate health security with the least-possible disruption to economies, specifically to travel, transport of goods and human rights. The Regulations were due for their first review in 2010, but the 2009 influenza pandemic intervened and led to the second focus of this report: an investigation into WHO’s response to the pandemic. The two aims are separate, but intertwined.