Early detection, early action, healthier communities
Epidemics and pandemics are some of the biggest threats to a safe and healthy world.
The United Nations General Assembly by the resolution A/RES/75/27; have designated 27 December as International Day of Epidemic Preparedness and invites all U.N. Member States, organizations of the United Nations system and other global, regional and subregional organizations, the private sector and civil society, including non-governmental organizations, academic institutions, individuals and other relevant stakeholders to observe the International Day of Epidemic Preparedness annually in an appropriate manner and in accordance with national contexts and priorities, through education and awareness-raising activities, in order to highlight the importance of the prevention of, preparedness for and partnership against epidemics.
What We Do
- Preparing our societies to better face future pandemic means building resilient and robust health systems which can reach everyone including the most vulnerable people, sharing and applying lessons learnt on epidemic management. It also means that we need to adopt a broader understanding of epidemics and the deep connections between our health and that of our environment. Indeed, the rise of zoonoses – diseases passed from animals to humans – is linked to the destruction of wild habitats and other human activities.
- Strengthening international cooperation and multilateralism on health concerns.
- Working to find solutions in response to epidemics.
The United Nations system, in particular the WHO plays a pivotal role in coordinating responses to epidemics, in accordance with its mandate, and in supporting national, regional and international efforts to prevent, mitigate and address the impacts of infectious diseases and epidemics in accordance with the goal of advancing the 2030 Agenda.
The World Health Organization, has also an essential role to in supporting Member States to prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies with public health consequences. Learn more about the pandemic and epidemic diseases on WHO’s radar and its work on managing epidemics.
The U.N. member states commit to ensure inclusive, equal and non-discriminatory participation, with special attention to those, who are vulnerable or in vulnerable situations with the highest chance of epidemic infection.
Global health sector strategy
The strategic directions are:
Information for focused action (know your epidemic and response)
Interventions for impact (covering the range of services needed)
Delivering for equity (covering the populations in need of services)
Financing for sustainability (covering the costs of services)
Innovation for acceleration (looking towards the future)
How are epidemic models designed?
Epidemiology is based on models and simulations of contaminations affecting society.
The SDG Target 3.3: End the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases.
Learn more about the Sustainable Development Goal 3!
What to do?
We need to stress the significance of partnership and solidarity among every individual, community and State, and regional and international organizations, in all stages of epidemic management
We need to recognize the primary role and responsibility of Governments and the indispensable contribution of relevant stakeholders in tackling global health challenges, especially women, who make up the majority of the world’s health workers.
There is an urgent need to have resilient and robust health systems, reaching those who are vulnerable or in vulnerable situations.
Actions
Applying lessons learned on epidemic management and how to prevent the stoppage of basic services.
Thanks Health care workers.
Raise the level of preparedness in order to have the earliest and most adequate response to any epidemic that may arise.
Strengthen epidemic prevention.
Recognizing the value of an integrated One Health approach that fosters integration of human health, animal health and plant health, as well as environmental and other relevant sectors.
The Weekly Epidemiological Record (WER) serves as an essential instrument for the rapid and accurate dissemination of epidemiological information on cases and outbreaks of diseases under the International Health Regulations and on other communicable diseases of public health importance, including emerging or re-emerging infections. An electronic bilingual English/French version of the WER is accessible every Friday and can be downloaded free of charge.
Previous Observances
“Early detection, early action, healthier communities.” International Day of Epidemic Preparedness 2024; December 27th.
The theme chosen to observe the International Day of Epidemic Preparedness 2024 on December 27th is “Early detection, early action, healthier communities.” FORUM: “Early detection, early action, healthier communities.” International Day of Epidemic Preparedness 2024. Epidemics and pandemics are some of…
Create a multi-disciplinary collaborative intelligence environment.
Build trust-based collaborations for pandemic and epidemic intelligence across sectors and disciplines.
Build a global system to connect data from a wide range of sources.
Lead the development of a global system that promotes greater accessibility and usability of diverse data while preserving data custodianship with data owners.
International Day of Epidemic Preparedness 