Notes on the International Health Regulations and Public Health Emergency of International concern - updated as of June 2021

1. International Health Regulations:
• Designed to prevent international spread of diseases
• International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) provide an overarching legal framework that defines
countries’ rights and obligations in handling (as well as reporting) public health events and
emergencies that have the potential to cross borders.
• The IHR are an instrument of international law that is legally-binding on 196 countries, including the
194 WHO Member States.
• Outline the criteria to determine whether or not a particular event constitutes a “public health
emergency of international concern”
• Require countries to designate a National IHR Focal Point for communications with WHO, to
establish and maintain core capacities for surveillance and response, including at designated points of
entry.
• IHR introduce important safeguards to protect the rights of travellers and other persons in relation to
the treatment of personal data, informed consent and non-discrimination in the application of health
measures under the Regulations.
• IHR emergency committees:
o Ongoing:
§ Polio virus
§ COVID-19
o Previous:
§ Ebola – Congo, West Africa
§ H1N1
§ MERS
§ Yellow fever
§ Zika virus
History of IHR & disease notification:
• IHR 1969 was formed, having been preceded by the International Sanitary Regulations adopted by
the Fourth World Health Assembly in 1951
• IHR 1969 – 6 quarantinable diseases: cholera, plague, yellow fever, smallpox, relapsing fever and
typhus
• IHR amended in 1973 and 1981- primarily to reduce the number of covered diseases from six to
three (yellow fever, plague and cholera) and to mark the global eradication of smallpox.
• Following the SARS outbreak in 2003, the IHR (2005) were adopted in the WHA in May 2005 and
entered into force from 2007
• Reasons why old IHR did not motivate member states to inform WHO about possible threats:
o IHR was limited to few diseases
o No standard way of defining threats and reporting them

2. o State could expect little benefit for reporting
o States faced risk of suffering exaggerated control measure from other countries which affect
economy
IHR 2005:
Purpose & scope of IHR:
The purpose and scope of these Regulations are to prevent, protect against, control and provide a public
health response to the international spread of disease in ways that are commensurate with and restricted to
public health risks, and which avoid unnecessary interference with international traffic and trade.
Important points from IHR:
• Responsible authorities: The establishment of National IHR Focal Points and WHO IHR Contact
Points for urgent communications between States Parties and WHO
• Scope not limited to any specific disease or manner of transmission, but covering “illness or medical
condition, irrespective of origin or source, that presents or could present significant harm to humans”
• Surveillance: State Party obligations to develop certain minimum core public health capacities
• Notification: Obligations on States Parties to notify WHO of events that may constitute a public
health emergency of international concern according to defined criteria
• Assistance: State Party in whose territory the event has occurred may request WHO assistance to
assess any epidemiological evidence obtained by that State Party.
• Provisions authorizing WHO to take into consideration unofficial reports of public health events
and to obtain verification from States Parties concerning such events
• Provision of information by WHO: WHO shall send to all States, as soon as possible and by the
most efficient means available, such public health information which it has received, and which is
necessary to enable States Parties to respond to a public health risk.
• Procedures for the determination by the Director-General of a “public health emergency of
international concern” and issuance of corresponding temporary recommendations, after
considering the views of an Emergency Committee
• Protection of the human rights of persons and travelers
Core capacity requirements for surveillance and response:
• At local community/primary public health response level:
The capacities:
o To detect events involving disease or death above expected levels for the particular time and
place in all areas within the territory of the State Party
o To report all available essential information immediately to the appropriate level of
healthcare response. At the community level, reporting shall be to local community
healthcare institutions or the appropriate health personnel. At the primary public health
response level, reporting shall be to the intermediate or national response level, depending on

3. organizational structures. For the purposes of this Annex, essential information includes the
following: clinical descriptions, laboratory results, sources and type of risk, numbers of
human cases and deaths, conditions affecting the spread of the disease and the health
measures employed; and
o To implement preliminary control measures immediately.
• At the intermediate public health response levels:
The capacities:
o To confirm the status of reported events and to support or implement additional control
measures
o To assess reported events immediately and, if found urgent, to report all essential information
to the national level. For the purposes of this Annex, the criteria for urgent events include
serious public health impact and/or unusual or unexpected nature with high potential for
spread.
• At the national level: Assessment and notification.
The capacities:
o To assess all reports of urgent events within 48 hours; and
o To notify WHO immediately through the National IHR Focal Point when the assessment
indicates the event is notifiable.

4. Decision instrument

6. PHEIC:
• The term Public Health Emergency of International Concern is defined in the IHR (2005) as “an
extraordinary event which is determined, as provided in IHR Regulations: to constitute a public
health risk to other States through the international spread of disease; and to potentially require a
coordinated international response”
• This definition implies a situation that: is serious, unusual or unexpected; carries implications for
public health beyond the affected State’s national border; and may require immediate international
action.
• The responsibility of determining whether an event is within this category lies with the WHO
Director-General and requires the convening of a committee of experts – the IHR Emergency
Committee.
From the IHR 2005:
• If the Director-General considers, based on an assessment under these Regulations, that a public
health emergency of international concern is occurring, the Director-General shall consult with the
State Party in whose territory the event arises regarding this preliminary determination. If the
Director-General and the State Party are in agreement regarding this determination, the Director-
General shall, in accordance with the procedure set forth in Article 49, seek the views of the
Committee established under Article 48 (hereinafter the “Emergency Committee”) on appropriate
temporary recommendations.
• In determining whether an event constitutes a public health emergency of international concern, the
Director-General shall consider:
o information provided by the State Party;
o the decision instrument contained in Annex 2;
o the advice of the Emergency Committee;
o scientific principles as well as the available scientific evidence and other relevant
information; and
o an assessment of the risk to human health, of the risk of international spread of disease and of
the risk of interference with international traffic.
• So far, 6 PHEIC resolutions have been passed:
o 2009 H1N1 (or swine flu) pandemic
o 2014 polio declaration (still a PHEIC)
o 2014 outbreak of Ebola in Western Africa
o 2015–16 Zika virus epidemic
o 2018–20 Kivu Ebola epidemic
o COVID-19 pandemic (ongoing)
• Other PHEIC: SARS, smallpox, wild type poliomyelitis, and any new subtype of human influenza
In India: NCDC as national focal point in India for IHR - designation of the National IHR Focal Point

7. Positive points about IHR 2005 as compared to previous ones:
• Although travel restrictions are made to the countries facing epidemic, international efforts are made
to assist the country
Debatable points about IHR 2005:
• A multi stage system of PHEIC could be more helpful in decision making than the binary system of
status of PHEIC
• Other potential disease conditions: AMR, chemical warfare, nuclear radiation