Response Plan Working Group

The first priority of this working group is to clarify and agree between GloPID-R members on a mechanism to mobilise when significant outbreaks of new or re-emerging infectious diseases occur.

Following the first meeting of the Readiness Working Group on 8th June, a revised version of the Readiness Plan, renamed the “Response Plan”, was circulated by the GloPID-R Secretariat. Input on this revised version was collected from several participants prior to the teleconference held on 27th June and at this meeting, the new version was welcomed as a good, clear, sensible document.

During the discussions, participants made suggestions for further improvement of the document including clarifying the interaction of GloPID-R and the WHO. The Secretariat is revising the draft accordingly.

The questions of the triggers and criteria on which GloPID-R should rely both to act and to reverse its mobilisation were also discussed during the teleconference. However, it was agreed that flexibility was necessary and that, in any case, the responsibility of decision-making should remain with the Chairs.

The question of funding for preparedness and response was also discussed. Participants agreed that the effectiveness of the Response Plan will depend on funding for the actual calls and funding to support the activities of the Secretariat and the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB).

To facilitate a discussion on this point, the Secretariat will, therefore, propose basic scenarios on how this issue could realistically be tackled and will reflect on the funding needs for the Secretariat and SAB activities.

Another area of discussion was the question of information-sharing to facilitate coordinated action between members in the case of an outbreak. It was agreed that the GloPID-R web-based collaborative workspace for members was a logical place to share information and documentation, but thought will have to be given to the level of use of such a platform among members. It was also agreed that if information-sharing is to be effective a certain level of commitment from the members is necessary. This question will be addressed when the needs have been clarified by the Secretariat.

Finally, it was suggested that it would be interesting to reflect on how the current Response Plan would have been implemented in the case of an Ebola outbreak and what its impact and limitations would have been. It was decided that in support of a discussion on this subject, Line Matthiessen will share the Ebola response analysis that was presented at the GloPID-R General Assembly in Washington last March.

The next meeting of the Response Plan Working Group is scheduled for mid-August 2016.