This global guidance aims to facilitate systematic and harmonized data collection about, and monitoring of, public health and social measures (PHSM) policies implemented by governments during health emergencies. The guidance is intended for policy-makers, health authorities, responders and researchers in multiple sectors and at various levels responsible for responding to public health emergencies and developing PHSM policies, and provides key actions for PHSM policy monitoring in both preparedness and response. Th guidance details standardized approaches and actionable steps for establishing and maintaining a robust PHSM monitoring system, a taxonomy of PHSM categories for coherent and comparable policy monitoring, and a process for consistent and transparent data collection. The guidance facilitates the availability of context-specific and real-time PHSM data alongside other key data sets drawn on during public health events for PHSM decision making. This guidance will be accompanied by flexible and customizable online tools.

In June 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) convened national public health stakeholders from 21 countries and WHO staff to establish a community of practice among public health stakeholders, with a specific focus on strengthening PHSM research and policies. This report provides an account of the discussions, outcomes and advice put forth during the meeting, highlighting the shared commitment to advancing PHSM research, decision-making and global monitoring of policies. At the meeting, national public health stakeholders shared case examples describing their experiences with PHSM implementation during health emergencies, including the COVID-19 pandemic. Through case studies presented by representatives from each country, as well as the discussions that followed, several key factors were identified that facilitated successful PHSM responses, namely, the existence of legal mechanisms for emergency responses, multisectoral collaboration, multisectoral governance, surveillance and contact tracing, national research initiatives, international recommendations and evidence in the absence of robust local data and research, community engagement, and social protection measures to mitigate the unintended negative consequences of PHSM. In addition, participants discussed challenges they had experienced relating to PHSM implementation and reflected on the additional resources and capacities that could have supported more effective PHSM. The report details these experiences, discussions as well as a call to action for PHSM participants put forth, encouraging all countries to commit to taking actions to strengthen PHSM as an essential countermeasure for epidemic and pandemic preparedness and response.

The World Health Organization (WHO) held its second global technical consultation on public health and social measures (PHSM) during health emergencies from 21 to 23 November 2023 to accelerate the use of PHSM as essential countermeasures for epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention. The meeting brought together 87 experts from various sectors in more than 30 countries, representing Member States and academia, as well as civil society and international organizations. During the consultation, experts identified critical initial actions to be taken by decision-makers, researchers and communities to facilitate a timely, equitable and context-specific PHSM response to outbreaks of infectious diseases with epidemic and pandemic potential. The resulting compendium encompasses critical initial actions on PHSM for viruses carried by the Aedes mosquito, zoonotic spillover, and novel respiratory viruses with pandemic potential. Experts noted the urgency to advance the more systematic integration of PHSM into existing emergency preparedness and response frameworks. The strategic positioning of PHSM as critical countermeasures alongside vaccines, therapeutics and other medical countermeasures will increase the recognition of their complementary roles in the fight against epidemics and pandemics. The conclusions of the consultation underscore the need for maintaining political and strategic focus on PHSM to maximize their full potential in saving lives and protecting the livelihoods of affected communities during future health emergencies.

This guidance is an update of WHO global influenza preparedness plan: the role of WHO and recommendations for national measures before and during pandemics, published March 2005 (WHO/CDS/CSR/GIP/2005.5).

Social determinants of health – broadly defined as the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age, and people’s access to power, money and resources – have a powerful influence on health inequities. In 2021, the Seventy-fourth World Health Assembly adopted resolution WHA74.16 on addressing social determinants of health, which encouraged Member States to integrate social determinants of health into public policies and programmes and adopt multisectoral approaches. The resolution requested the Director-General to develop an “Operational framework ... for the measurement, assessment and addressing, from a cross-sectorial perspective, of the social determinants of health and health inequities”. This Operational framework for monitoring social determinants of health equity provides countries with critical guidance on monitoring the social determinants of health and actions addressing them, and using data for policy action across sectors to improve health equity. The publication is meant as a resource for national governments and their partners. It was drafted under the guidance of an expert group and with internal contributions across the three levels of WHO, as well as through formal consultation with Member States, and was endorsed at the Seventy-sixth World Health Assembly.

This overview summarizes the work done on infodemic management / risk communication and community engagement since early 2020 into 2022.