International Health Regulations (2005)
Also called: IHR, IHR 2005 · Topic: Natural Hazards and Disaster Management in India · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The International Health Regulations (2005), or IHR, are a set of World Health Organization (WHO) rules that its member countries must legally follow. They make countries build the basic ability to detect disease outbreaks and other health threats. Countries must also report such events to WHO quickly. The rules were revised in 2005, after the 2003 SARS outbreak, and came into force in 2007. Under them, the WHO Director-General can set up an Emergency Committee, a group of experts who give advice. The Director-General can also declare a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). A PHEIC is an official alarm that a disease threat may spread across borders and needs a joint global response. The IHR matter because diseases do not stop at borders. Biological disasters such as epidemics are one of the four classes of natural disasters.
Example
On 17 May 2026, WHO declared the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak a PHEIC. The epicentre was Ituri province in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and the declaration also covered neighbouring Uganda. An IHR Emergency Committee met two days later to advise on how to control it.
Don't confuse with
- Disaster Management Act 2005: this is India's own national law. It set up NDMA, which is chaired by the Prime Minister. The IHR are an international set of WHO rules for health threats.
- Sendai Framework (2015-2030): this is a voluntary global plan to reduce risk from all kinds of disasters. The IHR are legally binding and deal only with public health events.