The 11th Global Dialogue Platform on Anticipatory Humanitarian Action, held from 10th to 13th October in Berlin featured a session on “Lessons from anticipatory action in outbreak preparedness, prevention and response.” It highlighted the work of Médecins sans Frontières, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, IFRC and other partners on anticipatory approaches for epidemic-prone diseases. Speakers discussed how they have approached Early and Anticipatory Action for outbreaks in South Sudan, DRC, Kenya and Indonesia. Panel presentations were followed by a discussion and break-out group work to develop a decision tree for considerations to be made for using the Anticipatory Action approach in the context of disease outbreaks. Presentations from the Indonesia and Kenya Red Cross are available online.