World Health Organisation plans global network

What could be the world's best chance of creating a global network for public health surveillance is waiting in the wings at the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) in Geneva.

According to a World Health Organisation (WHO) spokesman, health officials working to strengthen the BWC protocol, which bans the use of biological weapons, have suggested that provisions for a global health network should be inserted into the treaty.

The WHO is already working towards a 'network of networks' for global health information, but it is forced to rely on data collected by individual countries. Dr Barbara Rosenberg, chairman of the Federation of American Scientists, said: "Even in wealthy regions, the data is not evenly spread."

The suggestion that the health network clause be inserted into the weapons treaty cannot be proposed officially until governments have thrashed out a scheme for inspecting the use of banned biological weapons. That could take two years, but when the clause is proposed, it is expected to give developing countries the incentive they need to sign the updated convention. If the BWC is updated as planned, the richer signatories would fund 11 regional health centres.

The WHO is likely to base its network on technologies pioneered by US defence institution Sandia Laboratories, which has already set up a co-operative monitoring centre between Russia and Mexico.

The regional centres would have the resources to identify and diagnose unusual outbreaks of communicable disease, and to train staff. Their data would be transferred instantly to the WHO, which would make it available to the public.