The World Health Organization Global Outbreak and Response Network – what can Europe learn from this example?

The second meeting of the Global Outbreak and Response Network (GOARN) was held on 29-30 November 2001 in Geneva, Switzerland. More than 120 attendants represented 82 institutions and governments. The network was formed in April 2000 by the Department of Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response of the World Health Organization (WHOCSR) (http://www.who.int/emc/pdfs/csr%20strategyE.pdf) and partners as an international collaboration of technical associates in the area of epidemic alert and response, including relevant public sector, intergovernmental, and non-governmental organisations, and the private sector (http://www.who.int/emc/pdfs/network.pdf).