Title : Key considerations for strengthening Global Pandemic preparedness & response for future outbreaks
Abstract:
Pandemic preparedness & response (PPR) has risen to prominence as the frequency and impact of pathogen prone pandemic is escalating. The most recent COVID-19 pandemic exposed weaknesses in PPR in nearly all countries. Early identification of COVID-19 cases and clusters for rapid containment was hampered by inadequate diagnostic capacity, insufficient contact tracing, fragmented data systems, incomplete data insights for public health responders, and poor governance of all these elements.
Pandemic preparedness should remain a top priority across governments even post-COVID-19 pandemic. Besides COVID-19, there are multiple examples of emerging and re-emerging diseases that should be continuously tracked and controlled in order to avoid a new pandemic crisis with devastating global impacts.
Global community launched a wide-ranging pandemic response to COVID-19 as it spread around the world. However, many challenges revealed gaps in global pandemic preparedness such as limited technology capabilities, lack of adequate healthcare infrastructure, broken supply chain etc.
PPR strategy rests on following key pillars:
- Governance & Policy: Governments need to establish response frameworks to ensure fast response during crises
- Strategic Partnerships: Establish long-term relationships among public, private and global organizations
- Surveillance: Creating a robust surveillance capability to prepare for the next pandemic requires both global and domestic coordination
- Supply Chains: Creating a robust surveillance capability to prepare for the next pandemic requires both global and domestic coordination
- Data Infrastructure: Governments should build a robust data collection network during steady stage in preparation for pandemic response
Audience Take Away Notes:
This research would enable diverse stakeholders within the Global Public Health space to design global/regional PPR strategy/interventions and improve their understanding on:
- key levers of PPR
- key actions required from different stakeholders that need to come together to strengthen global PPR
- ensuring and investing in preparedness before a crisis strikes can saves lives and ultimately save money.
