Response Plan Working Group

The aim of the Response Plan is to be the network’s mechanism to recognize significant outbreaks of new or re-emerging infectious diseases, to assess whether an accelerated and coordinated research response can contribute to improved control and health outcomes, and to facilitate the appropriate response.

Efforts to adapt and streamline the principles following the experience of the Zika outbreak are now well advanced. After the last teleconference held on September 16, only minor changes are now needed before the proposed Response Plan can be circulated to all members and discussed at the next General Assembly in Seoul.

The working group will now discuss more operational questions, like information sharing between funders as well as funding. Indeed, participants underlined that the effectiveness of the Response Plan will depend on funding being in place for launching actual calls and supporting GloPID-R activities. The Secretariat prepared introductory papers that will help initiate a discussion at the next teleconference of the working group, to be organized in October.