The Detection, Verification and Risk Assessment (DVA) team of the Pan American Health Organization disseminates information about international public health events through the publication of epidemiological alerts, interactive maps and reports available to the public.
Epidemiological Alerts
Epidemiological Alerts provide information about international public health events which have implications or could have implications for the countries and territories of the Americas; as well as recommendations issued by the Pan American Health Organization related to the event in question.
Visit the Epidemiological Alerts and Updates page to view all current and past alerts.
Regional Event Management System
The Detection, Verification and Risk Assessment team uses the WHO developed "Event Management System" to manage information on events in the Region of the Americas. This system makes it possible to disseminate critical event-related information between international public health professionals, including the PAHO/WHO Country Offices, specialized centers and other WHO Regional Offices.
The following types of information are stored in the system:
- Epidemiological situation
- Event verification
- Laboratory
- Field operations
- Tracking and recording outbreak history
- Critical decisions
- Important actions carried out by PAHO/WHO and partners
National Level Event Management System
To support event management at the national level, PAHO/WHO in collaboration with the Brazil and Chile Ministries of Health has developed a tool called the "System of Monitoring Events (SIME)."
SIME is a computer application designed for the registry and monitoring of national level public health events. Since its creation it has been modified and updated for compatibility with the registration and analysis of data requirements within the International Health Regulations (2005) framework. The current version is 7.0.1.4.
World Health Organization (WHO)
Information about disease outbreaks, surveillance, alert and response activities from the WHO Headquarters and Regional Offices may be accessed through the following sites:
- WHO Disease outbreak news
- WHO Regional Office for Africa: Epidemic and Pandemic Alert and Response
- WHO Regional Office for the Americas: Epidemiological Alerts and Updates
- WHO Regional Office for Europe: Health Emergencies
- WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean: Disease outbreaks
- WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia: Surveillance and outbreak alert
- WHO Western Pacific Region: Emerging disease surveillance and response
