The aims of the WHO Global Respiratory Syncytial Virus Surveillance is to leverage the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS) to provide a continuous, comprehensive understanding of the epidemiology and virologic characteristics of RSV disease including seasonality, disease burden and populations at-risk. It provides a platform to evaluate effectiveness and impact of immunization and inform policy decisions on RSV prevention and control strategies.

The WHO RSV surveillance strategy has evolved since its inception in 2015. The Pilot phase  (2015–2018) implemented in fourteen countries across all six WHO regions, served to test the feasibility of integrating RSV in GISRS, test the performance of different case definitions, develop surveillance and laboratory standards for molecular testing of RSV.

The second phase (2019–2024) expanded to include an additional eleven low- and lower-middle income countries (LLMICs). RSV surveillance was strengthened in infants and young children less than 2-years age hospitalized for severe RSV disease. RSV typing and sequencing was performed to understand circulation by virus type and phylogenetic diversity. A subset of six LLMICs were prioritized for RSV disease burden estimation.

With regulatory approvals and roll out of the RSV vaccine and monoclonal antibody products in high income countries, the third phase (2025-2027) focuses on developing RSV surveillance tools, building capacities in 23 LLMICs to generate surveillance-based RSV disease burden estimates required to inform national policies for introduction of an affordable multi-dose vial of the RSV maternal vaccine expected to be available by 2028.