The 60th World Health Assembly of the WHO continues to meet in Geneva, Switzerland (see my earlier post). In 2005, the World Health Assembly adopted the revised International Health Regulations (IHR). The IHR, goes into effect this June and, according to Director-General, Dr. Margaret Chan, are a”pro-active” risk management strategy aimed to stop an international health event at its source, before it has a chance to become an international threat.

These regulations are designed to give the WHO broader authority in helping countries deal to “prevent, protect against, control and provide a public health response to the international spread of disease.” They were obviously a response to international concern over the spread of SARS and the avian flu. So it was not without interest when Chinese Health Minister, Gao Qiang, told the Assembly that he believed the “WHO should play a bigger role in the international public health fields, and governments of all countries should be more supportive of WHO’s work.” And it was quite striking that he also offered his strong support for the WHO’s IHR.

But here is where it gets interesting. Dr. Larry Brilliant, Executive Director of Google.org, writing in Forbes 90th Anniversary Issue (subscription required), “The Spreading Epidemic”, reads a little more into these regulations. He says that for the first time, the new regulations permit the WHO to accept reports from sources other than government officials and “empower ordinary people to notify the right authorities, without getting snarled in politics, commercial interests or bureaucracy.” In taking a look at the regulations, they do appear to offer a level of identity protection and confidentiality to those who would report cases of contagious disease and other health events of possible international concern directly to the WHO.

Now Google.org is the philanthropic arm of Google supporting more than 2,100 non-profit organizations in 16 countries. One of their main missions is global public health, that is, to “enable the world to better predict, prevent and eradicate communicable diseases through better access to and use of information.” In his article Brilliant talks about the development of a worldwide Wiki early warning approach to identify outbreaks of diseases. He cites as early efforts a number of “electronic trolling” services such as the Global Public Health Intelligence Network.

The convergence of these new regulations, Google’s serious interest and capabilities, as well as China’s ostensible support offers to say the least, a major opportunity and some real hope for progress in international disease control. To harness the power of the internet, and the publics’, participation in this important watchdog effort, is a pursuit that could literally change the world.