Outbreak Alert and Verification System
www.who.int/csr/don/en/ Purpose
The Outbreak Alert and Verification System is part of WHO; it is designed to assess the relevance of unconfirmed disease outbreak reports to international public health and, if appropriate, to seek further information from the affected country or region. If the report is verified and if the outbreak is still considered to be important to international public health, the information is communicated to the Global Alert and Outbreak Response Network (GOARN) of international partners.24 History and operational characteristics
Since it was established in 1997, the Outbreak Alert and Response Operations Team has met daily to review formal and informal disease outbreak reports received in the preceding 24 hours. Formal reports originate from the ministries of health of the involved country(s), WHO Regional and Country Offices, other UN agencies, and WHO Collaborating Centers. Sources of informal reports include nongovernmental organizations, international organizations, other WHO partners, and media services like GPHIN and ProMED-mail. This event alert and verification system continuously and systematically assesses reports of suspected disease outbreaks around the world. WHO Regional and Country Offices are tasked with verifying reports in collaboration with the national health authorities. The involved country(s) may request WHO’s assistance for the epidemiologic investigation and verification of the report. The Outbreak Alert and Response Operations Team carries out preliminary risk assessments on the incoming information using International Health Regulations (2005) criteria to determine if the reported outbreak might be of international public health importance if it were confirmed to (1) be an unknown disease or unexpected event, (2) have the potential for spread beyond national borders, (3) cause a serious health impact or high rates of morbidity and mortality, and (4) pose significant risk of international restrictions on trade or travel. Seven specific diseases—smallpox, plague, yellow fever, cholera, poliomyelitis due to wild-type poliovirus, human influenza caused by a new subtype, and SARS—require immediate assessment and notification under IHR 2005. All reports of disease outbreaks with potential international public health impact are compiled on the “Daily List,” a list of monitored information and activities about unverified reports that is a confidential working document of WHO Geneva. The six Regional Offices of WHO are responsible for tracking outbreak reports that occur in their regions. Once the involved country receives a request to investigate a disease outbreak, the report is added to the Outbreak Verification List (OVL). The median time between receiving an unconfirmed report of a disease outbreak of international public health concern to its appearance in the OVL is 3 days. Since the events listed on the OVL have not been verified, the list is not available to the public. If a disease outbreak is verified, and if it is still considered to be of international public health concern, the report will be posted in Disease Outbreak News on the WHO website, and it will be included in the Outbreak News section of the WHO Weekly Epidemiological Record. According to the provisions of IHR 2005, in the near future, the OVL will be replaced with web-based technology for communications between IHR National Focal Points (an institution designated in the Member State to deal with IHR-related issues) and WHO. Region/countries served
Global Funding /budget/staff
Not available | 
