Book excerpt: The National outbreak response handbook by the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) provides national public health agencies, ministries of health and partners with practical guidance as they respond to outbreaks in their country or territory. The Handbook can be used to inform outbreak preparedness and response plans at the national and subnational levels, including to ensure complementarity with existing national outbreak response plans. It summarizes effective organizational structures that can be implemented during national outbreak response, highlights best practices based on GOARN partners’ collective experiences, and references key technical and operational resources that have been developed by GOARN and its partners. This version (2024) of Handbook has been developed following extensive consultation across multidisciplinary GOARN partners and WHO technical teams, including collective response experiences. It is accompanied by an online portal version on the GOARN Knowledge Platform.