IHR News
The WHO quarterly bulletin on IHR implementation
What's new in IHR coordination and support?
INTERNATIONAL HEALTH REGULATIONS (2005), SECOND EDITION
The second edition of the International Health Regulations, IHR (2005) is now available in English in print and on line at
This edition contains the text of the IHR (2005), the text of the World Health Assembly resolution WHA58.3, the version of the Health Part of the Aircraft General Declaration that entered into force on 15 July 2007, appendices containing a list of States Parties and State Party reservations and other communications in connection with the IHR (2005). The Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish translations are also available on line at the above web site and will be released in print in December 2008.
INTRODUCTORY IHR BRIEFING FOR NATIONAL OFFICERS
Based on the online package for WHO Country Offices, this briefing has been tailored to the specific needs of national officers responsible for support to IHR implementation. The adaptation was developed according to the results of needs assessments carried out in the six WHO regions. The briefing is currently available in English; the Spanish and Portuguese versions will be released in October; Russian and French versions will be available by December and Arabic and Chinese versions by February 2009. For further information please contact: ihrinfo@who.int
MEETING OF THE TECHNICAL WORKING GROUP TO HARMONIZE VERIFICATION PROCEDURES FOR THE CERTIFICATION OF AIRPORTS UNDER IHR (2005), 30 SEPTEMBER 2008, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
This meeting brought together international experts from WHO, ICAO, IATA, ACI and country experts to launch the development of joint procedures for airport certification under Article 20.4 of the IHR. The objectives were to provide information on IHR requirements to support State Parties to assess, develop and strengthen core capacities at airports and provisions for airport certification by WHO; exchange experiences on existing processes within each organization; identify possibilities for building synergies between WHO IHR airport certification and ICAO, IATA and ACI audit programmes; identify opportunities for short term collaboration between ICAO, IATA, ACE and other partners to support WHO in developing IHR airport certification guidelines. For further information please contact: ihrtransport@who.int
CONGRESS OF THE INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY OF AVIATION AND SPACE MEDICINE (IAASM), 9-11 SEPTEMBER 2008, BANGKOK, THAILAND
The objective of the Congress of The International Academy of Aviation and Space Medicine was for participants to exchange knowledge and experience about Aviation Medicine to make air travel safer worldwide. This event provided an opportunity to raise awareness of the IHR among to over 200 aviation and space medicine experts from all regions. For further information please visit:
WHO GLOBAL HEALTH SECURITY COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATION MEETING, 15-17 JULY 2008, MEXICO CITY, MEXICO
Communications and technical experts from information agencies, response agencies, Ministries of Health and various WHO staff from the country and regional office came together on 15-17 July to review and provide solid recommendations on key risk communications issues within the scope of global public health security and IHR national core capacity building. Outcomes of the meetings included making key revisions to the WHO Outbreak Communications Planning Guide (to be launched by December 2008), providing further guidance on the membership and functionality of the WHO Global Health Security Communications Information Network and further review of the communications component of the Pandemic Preparedness Taskforce Guidelines. For further information please contact: ihrinfo@who.int
EMERGENCY RESPONSE EXERCISE: RESPONSE TO A NUCLEAR EVENT — CONVEX-3
International Emergency Conventions (1986) and the IHR framework were put to the test in a simulated nuclear emergency exercise that took place in Mexico on 9-10 July. Initiated and coordinated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), together with 74 of its Member States and 10 international organizations (including WHO), the exercise was a crucial part of the international efforts to respond to any radiological or nuclear incident or emergency worldwide. The exercise demonstrated the importance of a unique WHO logistical platform for responding to events, cutting across the relevant departments and using common standard operating procedures across the entire Organization. For further information please visit: