WHO HUB 2030

Public health intelligence enables decision-makers at local, national, regional and global levels to detect health threats early, understand the risks they pose and make timely, informed decisions. It brings together diverse sources of information to build a clearer picture of emerging risks, helping to target public health interventions where they will have the greatest impact.

In an increasingly complex world, trusted public health intelligence is our first line of protection, enabling faster decisions that protect people, reduce disruption and save lives. Public health intelligence is therefore not only a technical capability, but also a collaborative capability applied across sectors, built through trusted relationships, shared knowledge and coordinated action.

The Hub is uniquely positioned within the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, combining a global mandate with direct operational insight from public health emergencies. This connection ensures that the Hub’s work is grounded in the evolving needs of countries and regions, enabling it to develop practical solutions that strengthen public health intelligence across entire systems.

By linking operational experience, technical innovation and global collaboration, the Hub helps turn emerging capabilities into routine practice that benefits all Member States.

Countries and partners have made significant progress in disease surveillance and public health intelligence, but these advances are not yet shared equally. Many countries still lack the systems needed to rapidly detect, assess and respond to emerging health threats, as highlighted by the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (1). Where surveillance remains fragmented and under-resourced, health threats are detected too late, limiting opportunities for early action and more targeted, less disruptive responses. The priority now is to build on what works, extend these capabilities to every country and ensure that no country faces emerging health threats alone.

Global politics are shifting, national priorities are changing and resources are tightening, making effective global coordination more important than ever (2). Yet countries continue to recognize that public health intelligence is a global public good that depends on sustained international cooperation.

This commitment is reflected in the Pandemic Agreement, adopted by Member States in May 2025 as the first legally binding framework for pandemic preparedness and response (3). It is reinforced by wider multilateral reforms, including the Humanitarian Reset (4) and the Accra Reset (5).

Together, these developments reinforce the need for a trusted global institution that brings countries and partners together to strengthen public health intelligence and turn international commitments into action. In this more fragmented environment, WHO’s ability to convene countries around shared priorities becomes more important, not less.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can turn vast streams of information into early warning signals, connect data across previously incompatible systems and help decision-makers interpret complex risks. New technologies are also transforming how health threats are detected and understood. Genomic sequencing can identify an unknown pathogen within hours, while portable sequencing and wastewater surveillance are moving detection closer to where threats emerge. Together, these advances create an unprecedented opportunity to strengthen public health intelligence. Their value depends on countries being able to adopt, trust and use them within connected systems supported by responsible governance and international cooperation.

The next generation of public health intelligence will depend less on what individual organizations can achieve alone and more on how effectively they work together. As the global health ecosystem becomes more diverse, with public health agencies, research institutions, technology partners and other actors playing increasingly important roles, trust and shared ways of working will become essential.

Since its establishment in 2021, the Hub has grown into a global network spanning more than 160 Member States and 190 partners. Looking towards 2030, the Hub is uniquely positioned to draw on its strategic location in Germany and WHO’s global health mandate to build trust across an increasingly diverse global health ecosystem and unlock collective capability for public health intelligence.