Area of action
Area of action
The 2017 plague outbreak in Madagascar drew international attention due to the high level of infections in densely populated areas and the unusually high prevalence of pneumonic plague. The human and socio-economic impact was severe for the affected population, and there were concerns that the epidemic would spread to neighboring resource-limited countries in south-eastern Africa.
Early on, GloPID-R activated its Response Plan, which is the network’s mechanism for a prompt and coordinated response by funders. Our Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) identified several research priorities and GloPID-R members then agreed on the most pressing ones.
Because the epidemic was contained, most of the needed research projects could not be implemented. However, in response to a general call for assistance, two GloPID-R members in the UK (Wellcome Trust and DFID, since renamed FCDO) mobilized immediate funding to assist Institut Pasteur to set up a “survivors” cohort. This contributed to efforts to provide a meaningful evaluation of the outbreak and understand its clinical and immunological history.
The GloPID-R Secretariat is a project which receives funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101094188.