Data Sharing Working Group

In its meeting in June, under the leadership of Katherine Littler (Wellcome Trust), the GloPID-R Data Sharing Working Group outlined the proposed areas of its work and the associated activities.

The aim is to develop a system for data sharing in public health emergencies (PHE’s). The group’s first priority is to define the data of interest and to ascertain if there is a relevant difference between the way the data is or should be shared both during a PHE and in preparation for it.

This will include a mapping exercise to understand what has already been done and is being done currently by other initiatives in order to avoid duplication of effort.

The Group has also started looking into core principles for data sharing in PHEs (and the issue of whether they differ from other areas of public health). A key question of this research will be how to embed principles in research practice. The Group is committed to publishing all activities as soon as they have been completed.

Future plans include real-time tracking of the data sharing activities and mapping of Zika-related projects. The results of this will feed into the overall GloPID-R data sharing effort. Another important forthcoming activity will be the mapping of data sharing in past PHEs to understand the complexities of sharing data in different disease types in different geographical contexts.

The Data Sharing Working Group has planned to meet at the time of the IMED (International Meeting on Emerging Diseases and Surveillance) in Vienna from the 4th to the 7th November 2016.