The declaration of ‘International Public Health Emergency’ (Pheic) proclaimed on 30 January 2020 by the World Health Organization for Covid-19 and today revoked, is used by WHO for “an extraordinary event which constitutes a health risk public for several states through the international spread of a disease, and which potentially requires an internationally coordinated response”. It is therefore a procedure that allows an international alert to be triggered for a common response against what was subsequently defined by the WHO as a pandemic, a word for which a recognition inter is not needed.
This is how we arrive at this definition, whose procedures were defined following the Sars epidemic.
THE CRITERIA: The definition, explains the WHO website, implies a situation that is “serious, sudden, unusual or unexpected”.
which has “implications for public health beyond the borders of the affected state” and which “requires immediate international action”. The declaration in itself is not legally binding on states, but has the purpose of raising the level of attention and international coordination.
THE COMMITTEE: Any declaration is decided by a committee of experts appointed by the WHO director general, which must include at least one member of the state from which the emergency originates. In the case of the Chinese coronavirus, the committee includes 20 experts, 17 as full members and 11 ‘advisors’, and the president is Didier Houssin of the Agence Nationale de Securite’ Sanitaire, de l’alimentation, de l’environnement et du travail French. In addition to deciding whether an event deserves Pheic status, the committee makes recommendations for the affected state and all others, including any travel or trade restrictions.
PREVIOUS: Pheic’s first statement was made in 2009 during the swine flu pandemic. In 2014 the polio and Ebola epidemics received status, in 2016 the Zika epidemic and in June 2019 the ongoing Ebola epidemic in Congo, after the discovery of cases in Uganda.
The latter together with that of polio is the only emergency still active.
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