Technical guidance on water-related disease surveillance

This technical guidance is intended to assist the Parties to the Protocol on Water and Health to the 1992 Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes in establishing and/or strengthening outbreak detection and early warning systems, contingency plans and capacity response in accordance with article 8 of the Protocol. The draft guidance reviews the main threats to health related to water services, recalls basic concepts of epidemiology and disease surveillance and provides guidance on data management and analysis. It will therefore also support national efforts towards national and international health security in line with the International Health Regulations (2005). The guidance was approved by the Parties at the second session of the Meeting of the Parties (Bucharest, Romania, 23–25 November 2010). [authors abstract]