The INFORM Epidemic Risk Index assesses the risk of countries to epidemic outbreak

 By Montserrat Marin Ferrer 

The INFORM Epidemic Risk Index assesses the risk of countries to epidemic outbreak that could exceed the national capacity to respond to the crisis.

The INFORM Epidemic Risk Index  is a prototype version of hazard dependent INFORM Risk Index  created in 2018. It was developed under the technical lead of the JRC and in close collaboration with WHO for the epidemic components. Through extensive consultation, the WHO identified the underlying risk drivers of epidemic, which enabled the development of a conceptual framework for epidemic risk assessment in countries. JRC developed the INFORM Epidemic Risk Index as an adaptation of the INFORM Risk index, preserving the integrity of the original model. The risk score ranges from 0-10, where 10 is the highest risk. In its original version it is covering four groups of Infectious diseases on the base of the mode of transmission and the epidemiological triad addressing agent, host and environment:  1) Zoonoses, (2) Vector borne, (3) Person-to-person (P2P), (4) Foodborne, and Waterborne.

The INFORM Epidemic Risk Index was adapted to better reflect the situation of the Covid-19 pandemic. As transmission is now dominated by human-to-human transmission, the “Hazard & Exposure dimension” of the model was narrowed down to the P2P (meaning people to people) component only. The adapted version of the index is called INFORM Epidemic P2P Risk Index.