Emergencies
Surveillance in emergencies
Public health surveillance is the continuous, systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of health-related data.
Disease surveillance data:
- serves as an early warning system for impending outbreaks that could become public health emergencies;
- enables monitoring and evaluation of the impact of an intervention, helps track progress towards specified goals; and
- monitors and clarifies the epidemiology of health problems, guiding priority-setting and planning and evaluation public health policy and strategies.
Humanitarian emergencies increase the risk of transmission of infectious diseases and other health conditions such as severe malnutrition. An effective disease surveillance system is essential to detecting disease outbreaks quickly before they spread, cost lives and become difficult to control. Effective surveillance can improve disease outbreak detection in emergency settings, such as in countries in conflict or following a natural disaster.
Surveillance System of Attacks on Healthcare (SSA)
The SSA is a global standardized and systemic approach to collecting data of attacks on health care. This system utilizes the same methodology across countries to address the knowledge gap of the extent and nature of attacks on health care.
WHO Country Offices work closely with partners to ensure there is a wide and inclusive range of reporting contributors.
The SSA will allow for the production of regular reports with consolidated data, identify global and context-specific trends and patterns of violence and allow comparisons between regions and contexts.
To view the SSA please visit http://ssa.who.int
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Videos
Publications
23 May 2023
Defining collaborative surveillance
The complex challenges highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic and other major health emergencies emphasize the need to rethink our approach to surveillance,...
Populations affected by emergencies are continually at risk of outbreaks of epidemic-prone diseases and other public health hazards. This operational guidance...
This document summarizes current WHO guidance for public health surveillance of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in humans caused by infection with...
19 November 2020
Maintaining surveillance of influenza and monitoring SARS-CoV-2 – adapting Global Influenza surveillance...
This interim guidance is most useful for countries interested in monitoring relative circulations of influenza and SARS-CoV-2 viruses. The document provides practical...
Environmental surveillance by testing of wastewater for evidence of pathogens has a long history of use in public health, particularly for poliovirus and...
2 March 2019
Detect earlier to better protect
WHO provides national health authorities, and stakeholders supporting them, with guidance for implementing or enhancing all-hazards Early Warning and Response...
6 September 2018
Managing epidemics: Key facts about major deadly diseases
Epidemics of infectious diseases are occurring more often, and spreading faster and further than ever, in many different regions of the world. The background...
10 January 2018
Communicating risk in public health emergencies: a WHO guideline for emergency risk communication (‎ERC)‎...
Recent public health emergencies, such as the Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa (2014–2015), the emergence of the Zika virus syndrome in...
6 April 2016
Surveillance for Zika virus infection, microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome: interim guidance 
This document provides interim WHO recommendations for the surveillance of Zika virus and potentially related complications. It has been developed in consideration...
1 January 2012
Outbreak surveillance and response in humanitarian emergencies: WHO guidelines for EWARN implementation
Humanitarian emergencies often involve the displacement of large numbers of people. Those affected are frequently settled in temporary locations with high...
3 August 2011
Early warning surveillance and response in emergencies
The Disease Control in Humanitarian Emergencies (DCE) team within the department of Global Alertand Response at WHO headquarters is conducting a project...
Myriad health threats have the capacity to cross borders. In anticipation and response, the World Health Organization (WHO) gives voice and leadership...
