It was first published as the Relevé Hebdomadaire by a group of epidemiologists based in the Health Office of the League of Nations, in Geneva, in 1926 and later evolved to be a WHO publication.

The bulk of its content relates to vaccination, epidemic and pandemic preparedness and response and treatment, in addition to reports on neglected tropical diseases such as the most common infectious cause of blindness, trachoma.

At the time, the WER's mission was to provide the world with information about disease threats that mostly travelled via the sea route: cholera, plague, smallpox, typhus and yellow fever.

Clear and concise data on the smallpox situation in each country subsequently appeared every three weeks in the WER between 1968 and 1979, during which time front line workers could appraise their own work and compare it with others.

[11] In May 2012, the WER published the WHO SAGE's (Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on immunization) stance on the use of influenza vaccines, backed by an article which stated the WHO's update on including pregnant women as a priority.

[14] These include schistosomiasis, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, helminthiasis and the most common infectious cause of blindness, trachoma, which the WER reported as posing a threat to 136.9 million people globally in July 2020, a drop from 1.5 billion in 2002 and a reduction of 91%.