The Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center (AFHSC) was created to centralize Department of Defense (DoD) domestic and international healthcare surveillance efforts. The organization provides relevant, timely, actionable, and comprehensive health information and supports the military and military-associated populations. The Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System (GEIS) at AFHSC promotes national and international preparedness for emerging infections while maintaining its focus on protecting the health of all DoD health care beneficiaries.

A significant undertaking in 2010 was the integration of World Health Organization's (WHO) International Health Regulations (IHR (2005)) core capacities into all surveillance activities. The IHR (2005) mandates that all Member States have the ability to detect, analyze, report, and respond to public health events of international concern (PHEICs). AFHSC-GEIS moves the global public health community closer to achieving IHR (2005) compliance by strengthening surveillance and detection, response and readiness, integration and innovation, and cooperation and capacity building through long-standing relationships between the network partners and their sponsor host countries...