Introduction

In 2005, the International Health Regulations^[⁷^] (IHR) declared that a global network of national health systems should be established to facilitate coordinated defence against public health threats and ensure the security of international public health. Four areas of work to achieve the envisioned network have been established:

a) strengthening national prevention capacity;
b) introduction of global alert and response mechanisms;
c) containment of specific threats;
d) travel and transports.

With the first case reported on 31 December 2019, the WHO declared COVID-19 as a pandemic in March 2020.^[⁶^] The lack of effective vaccines and treatment created a crisis that has seen a significant number of confirmed cases and deaths worldwide. The pandemic has imposed enormous pressure on, and, in some countries, paralyzed public health systems, resulting in shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE), extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machines, hospital beds and medical personnel.

Each country has implemented various measures to block infection spread at entry points to the country, which has required tremendous resources. Asymptomatic cases and long incubation periods challenge infection prevention and control capacities of health care institutions and public health agencies.

A self-symptom checker app for a pandemic enables individuals to record and report pandemic-related symptoms, to provide information on screening test sites and to offer consultation channels that link them to health experts for disease spread containment.

The self-symptom checker app is designed to act as a frontline defence that enables isolation and quarantine of potentially infected individuals.

This document provides interested parties with guidance to support the development of applications for self-monitoring of symptoms to support screening. Self-monitoring applications can be used to support screening in businesses as well as border entry to contain the spread of infection and provide critical information to health care providers to provide appropriate care.

Annex A uses ISO/TS 82304‑2 ^[ ¹ ^], Annex E to provide additional guidance when considering a self-symptom checker app.

ISO 6028:2023

Healthcare organization management. Pandemic response. Functional requirements for self-symptom checker app

Current

Published:

2 Jun 2023