International Health Regulations (2005) and chemical events

Overview

In 2005, the World Health Organization (WHO) Member States adopted the revised International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005). The Regulations provide a unique public health framework in the form of obligations and recommendations that enable countries to better prevent, prepare for and respond to public health events and emergencies of potential international concern, including chemical events.

The first IHR were adopted by the World Health Assembly (WHA) in 1969, having been preceded by the International Sanitary Regulations adopted by the WHO in 1951. The 1969 Regulations, which initially covered six “quarantinable diseases”, were amended in 1973 and again in 1981, primarily to reduce the number of covered diseases from six to three (i.e. yellow fever, plague and cholera) and to mark the global eradication of smallpox. In consideration of the growth of international travel and trade, and the emergence or re-emergence of international disease threats and other public health risks (including those related to chemical exposure), the WHA in 1995 called for a substantial revision of the Regulations. After extensive negotiation, the IHR (2005) were finally adopted by the WHA in 2005 and entered into force on 15 June 2007 (WHO, 2008a).

The purpose of the revised IHR (2005) is to prevent, protect against, control and provide a public health response to the international spread of disease. Their scope is not limited to any specific disease or manner of transmission (as with the previous Regulations), but covers illness or medical conditions, irrespective of etiology, that present or could present significant harm to humans, including outbreaks of chemical origin. The IHR (2005) obligate States Parties to develop certain minimum core public health capacities (especially for early event detection and response) and to notify WHO of events that may constitute a public health emergency of international concern according to defined criteria.