Surveillance and monitoring

The influenza surveillance and monitoring activity collects and analyzes virological and epidemiological data from countries, areas and territories around the world. WHO relies on the willing participation of countries to share their influenza surveillance data.
The open and transparent sharing of influenza monitoring data by participating countries allows WHO to:

• provide countries, areas and territories with information about influenza transmission in other parts of the world to allow national policy makers to better prepare for upcoming seasons;
• provide data for decision making regarding recommendations for vaccination and treatment;
• describe critical features of influenza epidemiology including risk groups, transmission characteristics, and impact;
• monitor global trends in influenza transmission; and
• inform the selection of influenza strains for vaccine production.