A revolutionary public health warning system from the Public Health Agency of Canada just got the global recognition it deserves.

GPHIN2 — an enhanced and automated version of Health Canada’s earlier Global Public Health Intelligence Network — was officially launched at the United Nations yesterday. The Web-based tracking system identifies threats to public health.

Its launch was attended by public and private sector personalities, including Federal Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh, chief public health officer of Canada, Dr. David Butler-Jones, former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn, and U.S. media magnate Ted Turner.

The system monitors and analyzes more than 10,000 information sources in seven languages — English, French, Arabic, traditional and simplified Chinese, Russian and Spanish.

Each day, information from nearly 20,000 news reports is retrieved based on specific search criteria. This colossal collection of data is then appraised by analysts for further relevance, and disseminated to public health professionals worldwide.

GPHIN2 is the latest incarnation of the GPHIN platform launched by Health Canada seven years ago in response to a very real need.

“Health Canada wanted a system that could relay information on potential outbreaks directly to the international public health bodies,” said Abla Mawaudeku, GPHIN manager.