International Health Regulations
The International Health Regulations (IHR) is a global legal instrument for public health security. The IHR 2005 came into force on 15 June 2007. Its objective is to prevent the international spread of diseases while avoiding unnecessary interference to international travel and trade. It requires all WHO member states to meet minimum core capacity requirements to develop and strengthen national and local capacities for surveillance and response by June 2012. From a focus of three diseases (cholera, yellow fever and plague) in IHR (1969), it has expanded its scope to all threats posing significant public health risk in the revised IHR. Aside from infectious disease threats, it also included biological, radiological and chemical events which could have a significant public health impact.
In the Asia Pacific Region, a strategy called the Asia Pacific Strategy for Emerging Diseases (APSED) was developed to strengthen core capacities for emerging infectious disease and to comply with IHR requirement. The APSED is a road map for countries of the Asia Pacific to strengthen core capacities required for effective preparedness planning, prevention, prompt detection, characterization, containment and control of emerging diseases which threaten national, regional, and global health security. It was endorsed by WHO Member States to facilitate in strengthening core capacity requirements for emerging diseases.
