Almost three years after the Covid-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the world, the World Health Organization (WHO) has set up a new global network that will help detect and respond to disease threats before they become epidemic or pandemic, and to optimise routine disease surveillance.

The International Pathogen Surveillance Network (IPSN) will provide a platform to connect countries and regions, and improving systems for collecting and analysing samples using these data to drive public health decision-making, and share that information more broadly.