Rather than use these data to evaluate performance against neighboring countries or other regions, nations that undertake the effort to establish their own time-to-detection baseline will learn whether changes to reporting policies, implementation of the IHR core competencies, use of novel disease reporting systems, or increased investments in disease surveillance have improved the speed of detection and response capabilities. Measurements can be stratified by several variables, including pathogen type, to gain insight into what approaches are most effective.

Ministries of Health will not only be able to assess progress to date, but identify programmatic or geographic gaps that can inform resource allocation and strategic planning. Governments, NGOs, and philanthropies will be able to better understand which investments have the biggest impact in the area of rapid detection and response, and can share these learnings to ensure efficient use of limited funds.