Outbreak surveillance and response in humanitarian emergencies: WHO guidelines for EWARN implementation

Overview

Humanitarian emergencies often involve the displacement of large numbers of people. Those affected are frequently settled in temporary locations with high population densities, inadequate food and shelter, unsafe water, poor sanitation and lack of infrastructure. These circumstances can increase the risk of transmission of communicable diseases and other conditions, and can thus lead to increased mortality (death). In particular, diseases that have a tendency to become epidemic (referred to as epidemic-prone diseases) can be a major cause of morbidity (disease) and mortality during emergencies. Rapid detection and prompt response to epidemics among the affected population is a key priority during humanitarian crises.

During humanitarian emergencies, broad public health surveillance systems may be underperforming, disrupted or non-existent; they may quickly become overwhelmed to adequately meet surveillance information needs of a humanitarian emergency, including timeliness and high data quality. An early warning alert and response network (EWARN) is needed and is often set up to fill this gap, particularly in the acute phase of an emergency, while the routine systems recover from the effects of the disaster.