The World Health Organization (WHO) has released updated manuals designed to guide countries in strengthening their systems for surveillance and response to foodborne diseases. These manuals aim to enhance national capacities, prevent local food safety incidents from escalating into international emergencies, and improve communication through the International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN).
Purpose and Scope of the Updates
The updated comprehensive set of manuals provides guidance ranging from introductory concepts to advanced integrated surveillance across the food chain. Their primary objective is to support national authorities in developing and enhancing their systems, thereby contributing to faster and more reliable information sharing, particularly through INFOSAN during emergencies with international implications.
The manuals outline methods for countries to strengthen their surveillance and response mechanisms, facilitating earlier identification of concerns, reliable verification, and appropriate sharing of information.
Key Features and Tools
The updated manuals offer practical, structured guidance for establishing, assessing, and strengthening national foodborne disease surveillance and response systems. Key features include:
- Three-Stage Framework: A framework is introduced to guide countries in developing surveillance and response systems that are appropriate, sustainable, and meet international standards. This promotes incremental system strengthening, from core detection and response capabilities to integrating data across various sectors.
- Practical Instruments: Each manual contains tools such as self-assessment instruments to review current capacities and identify areas for investment. Decision trees offer structured guidance on surveillance and response functions, while templates, field investigation tools, and case studies assist teams in applying consistent approaches to outbreak investigations.
- Integrated Data Utilization: The guidance emphasizes the integration of laboratory data, environmental assessments, food chain information, and public health investigations to support comprehensive risk assessments. This approach aims to strengthen the evidence informing notifications sent to INFOSAN, providing members with clearer, actionable information for timely risk management.
- Multi-Sectoral Collaboration: The documents stress the importance of clear roles, responsibilities, and collaboration across multiple sectors, including public health, food safety, laboratory, animal health, and environmental sectors. They also highlight the utilization of surveillance data to inform timely risk assessment, response, and prevention strategies.
Addressing Emerging Priorities and Advanced Methods
The updated editions incorporate emerging priorities, including:
- The increasing impact of climate and environmental change on foodborne risks.
- The expanding role of integrated surveillance throughout the food chain.
- A greater focus on equity, data utilization, and the connection between foodborne disease surveillance and food contamination monitoring.
The manuals also complement existing WHO guidance on specific tools and approaches, such as whole genome sequencing. They provide a system-level framework for countries to consider and integrate advanced methods in line with their specific context, priorities, and readiness, while stressing that advanced methods are most effective when built upon robust foundational capacities.
Expected Outcomes
By assisting countries in building resilient and adaptable systems, the manuals aim to:
- Improve the quality, timeliness, and application of data for public health decision-making.
- Enable INFOSAN members to better detect unusual patterns, assess emerging hazards, confirm contamination sources, and share findings rapidly and reliably.
- Support national capacity building and the overall effectiveness of the global network.
- Ultimately, protect consumers, limit the impact of food safety emergencies, and safeguard health across borders, contributing to the reduction of the burden of foodborne diseases.