Reporting Disease Outbreaks in a World with No Digital Borders

Abstract

In a world of fast-paced, globalised travel and trade, early detection of communicable disease outbreaks has become ever more important to prevent the rapid spread of disease. To facilitate surveillance and reporting, detection and communication must be as fast paced as the movement of the outbreak. This sense of urgency has prompted a pivot to technology as the best solution to keep up with the spread of disease. Reliance on a variety of state and nonstate informants with access to surveillance platforms to report potential disease outbreak events to the World Health Organization (WHO) has led to its formal recognition in the revised International Health Regulations (IHRs). However, as this chapter discusses, the inclusion of nonstate reports in disease surveillance and reporting remains a practical and political challenge.