The second International Day of Epidemic Preparedness, being held on Monday, 27 December 2021, to advocate the importance of the prevention of, preparedness for and partnership against epidemics.
WHO works closely with governments to support efforts to build strong emergency and epidemic preparedness systems, as part of an overall approach to advance universal health coverage and strengthen primary health care systems.
Accelerating R&D and Saving Lives.
The #OpenWHO helps you prepare for epidemic events with free online learning on 24 different diseases, from Cholera to Zika. Everyone around the world deserves access to knowledge to protect themselves and their loved ones.
An R&D Blueprint for Action to Prevent Epidemics
The R&D Blueprint builds on the efforts of international partners and communities through five work streams:
- Identify the top global disease threats on which to focus initial R&D efforts;
- Develop a review process to reassess priorities in light of changing circumstances; and
- Plan for the transition from preparedness to action in the event of an outbreak.
- Create a prototype R&D roadmap for MERS, identifying the basic and applied research, and health technologies needed to contain this emerging threat;
- Based on this prototype, develop roadmaps for all priority diseases and for cross-cutting issues such as regulatory science and social science research; and
- Agree on standard procedures to rapidly evaluate new health technologies in emergencies while maintaining the highest scientific and ethical standards.
- Develop organisational frameworks for the coordination of national and international actors and inclusion of scientists in low- and middle-income countries as equal partners;
- Build the capability to conduct clinical trials for vaccines and therapeutics against emerging disease threats in low- and middle-income countries; and
- Agree on the open sharing of data, the fair sharing of biological samples for research, and manufacturing plans for new health products.
- Develop a plan to evaluate the impact of the R&D Blueprint and continuously improve the Blueprint;
- Create a high-level checklist to monitor preparedness and impact, using MERS as an example; and
- Conduct the first assessment of the presence of supportive conditions for R&D in 2017, and evaluate the impact of the R&D Blueprint when the next outbreak occurs.
Mobilise Funding
- Explore funding models for R&D preparedness and response.
Learn more about the WHO Emergency preparedness and response.
International Day of Epidemic Preparedness 