ABSTRACT
In the mid-twentieth century, the newly created World Health Organization (WHO) became the primary steward for sanitary agreements, which were consolidated into the International Sanitary Regulations, later revised as the International Health Regulations of 1969 (IHR). In 1995, the World Health Assembly (WHA), the governing body of the WHO, agreed to revise the IHR with the goal of promoting early detection of and response to epidemics before they became international public health crises. In 2005, WHA agreed to revise the IHR to “prevent, protect against, control and provide a public health response to the international spread of disease in ways that are commensurate with and restricted to public health risks and which avoid unnecessary interference with international traffic and trade”. Since the IHR entered into force in 2007, the WHO has released an extensive collection of guidance documents, procedures, monitoring tools, and training materials to support States as they build, strengthen, and maintain capacity and work to implement the regulations.
