Area of action
Area of action
When the Zika virus struck in 2015, GloPID-R acted quickly to coordinate funding, draft publications and organize workshops. In response to the Brazilian Ministry of Health’s official declaration of the Zika virus as a public health emergency in November 2015, GloPID-R quickly assembled an Outbreak Committee in early December 2015 to assess the outbreak and launch research projects.
With three of GloPID-R’s 27 members based in Brazil (Instituto Fiocruz, Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) and Instituto Butantan), GloPID-R reacted quickly. Instituto Fiocruz was instrumental in providing information on Zika’s effects on the population from a regional perspective and the research challenges the virus poses.
In 2016, GloPID-R members worked together to launch several research projects. GloPID-R then hosted a GloPID-R Zika Virus Research Workshop in Sao Paulo, Brazil on November 30 – December 2, 2016 to facilitate collaboration on these funded projects.
Four EU-funded Zika consortia funded by GloPID-R members, teamed up to discuss a common strategy for a ZIKV vaccine development during the International Symposium held in Marseille, France in June 2018. The aim of this project was to produce a safe, effective, and affordable vaccine using a delivery platform technology based on a measles vector.
Four Zika thematic working groups were formed to cover issues related to etiology, vaccines, diagnostics, and vector control. These groups published documents on their findings: see below and on the GloPID-R resources page.
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.