Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC):
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently declared the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.
- It is an emergency declaration formally announced by the World Health Organization (WHO) in response to a crisis of international proportions that can affect people’s health.
- It is the WHO’s highest level of global health alert.
- Such a declaration may require immediate action at a global level against the international spread of disease.
- A PHEIC is subject to the International Health Regulations (IHR), which require those states involved to promptly respond to the crisis at hand.
- PHEICs are decided upon by a governing body of international experts known as the IHR Emergency Committee, a group formed in the aftermath of the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak.
- The declaration is reviewed on a tri-monthly basis and renewed as needed.
- However, certain disease outbreaks can be declared a PHEIC without the approval of the IHR.
- Alongside infectious disease, a PHEIC can also be declared in response to outbreaks of public health hazards such as chemical agents or radioactive materials.
- International Health Regulations (IHR) was adopted by the Health Assembly (decision-making body of WHO) in 1969 in an effort to prevent the spread of disease across national borders.
- Following the chaotic global outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) that lasted between 2002 and 2004, revisions were made to the IHR to account for such global emergencies.
- A new IHR was adopted at the 58th World Health Assembly in May 2005.
- The IHR 2005 was an international agreement among 196 countries committed to upholding global health security.
- WHO was deemed the coordinating body of this agreement.
