November 2024 GloPID-R PI Professor Dr Christian Drosten and Board Member Hervé Raoul participate as panellists at the World Health Summit session on Pandemic Preparedness.

At the World Health Summit in Berlin, the European Commission hosted a session titled “Research and Innovation on Pandemic Preparedness in the EU and Global Context” on the final day of the event. This session focused on the EU’s role in preparing for future pandemics.

At the final day of the World Health Summit in Berlin, the European Commission hosted a session on ‘Research and Innovation on Pandemic Preparedness in the EU and Global Context’. The panel discussion was chaired by Kasia Jurczak, director General of research and Innovation as well as Head of Unit of Combatting Diseases at the European Commission. The speakers of the panel were Professor Dr Christian Drosten, Director of the Institute of Virology at Charité Universitätsmedizin in Berlin, Dr Michael Makanga, Executive Director of Global Health at EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking in Belgium, Ana Maria Henao-Restrepo Co-Lead R&D Blueprint for Epidemics at the Health Emergencies Programme World Health Organization, Hervé Raoul French Deputy Director Research on AIDS – Emerging Infectious Diseases at National Agency in France and Shingai Machingaidze, Co-Chair International Pandemic Preparedness Secretariat in South Africa.

Panelists discussed how the Covid 19 pandemic set the stage for a broader discussion and led to the launch of more concentrated efforts and initiatives on preparedness for pandemics in the global health community. Each speaker shared what their organisation – and its respective broader region – has done since the global pandemic to better prepare itself for pandemics and outbreaks in the future.