National health emergency alert and response framework

This multi-hazard Health Emergency Alert and Response Framework provides guidance for coordinating emergency response in countries, under the global Health Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response (HEPR) framework. It outlines the public health functions, coordination systems and actions needed for effective local, sub-national and national response to a broad range of health emergencies, including disasters.

The framework outlines the different stages of a health emergency, from detection and notification to risk assessment, activation of emergency procedures, response interventions, and operational review. It also promotes the integration of performance evaluation into response for different hazards, and introduces timelines for the completion of key activities for both outbreaks and disasters, building on the 7-1-7 evaluation framework, which sets performance targets of 7 days to detect an outbreak, 1 day to notify public health authorities, and 7 days to complete early response actions.