Health update · 23 October 2026
Source announcement: 12 October 2026

A plan for faster recognition of health threats

WHO has announced a five-year strategy for its Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence. The ambition is for every country to detect and understand emerging health threats within 24 hours by 2030.

This is a future goal, rather than a claim that every outbreak is already detected within a day. The strategy focuses on stronger systems, collaboration and information sharing so countries can act before threats become larger emergencies.

How the strategy aims to help

Its priorities include monitoring publicly available information, identifying pathogens through genomic surveillance, connecting modelling experts, supporting collaborative surveillance and developing secure digital systems.

WHO says progress will depend on continued investment and trusted partnerships across countries and sectors.

Explore our testing guides

For a separate guide to individual screening, read how HIV testing works and HIV test window periods. Population-level outbreak detection and an individual HIV test are different processes.

Source: Read WHO’s strategy announcement.