This session was by invitation only
"Microbes are not deterred by borders, and neither are we."
In an ever-connected world, the need to identify, prepare for, and deter outbreaks at the national, regional and global level has never been so important. In 2018, Salzburg Global Seminar and Ending Pandemics convened representatives from 26 organizations (including national and international public health agencies, NGOs, universities, and foundations) to revise a draft set of outbreak timeliness metrics and develop a framework for implementation. Four days of in-depth discussion and rigorous debate resulted in a set of metrics for use by both public health agencies and other interested organizations to assess the timeliness of their outbreak detection and response efforts.
Building on this effort, and in light of the fact that the majority of infectious diseases in humans originate in animals, Ending Pandemics and Salzburg Global Seminar are convening a second immersive, invitation-only program to build upon these established metrics and extend them to the field of One Health surveillance. During the program we will expand these timeliness metrics for use in the animal and environmental health sectors, with the ultimate goal of designing simple metrics to monitor progress in finding both animal and human outbreaks faster.
This multi-sectoral program will include up to 45 participants representing countries and organizations from around the world. The fully residential program, held in the retreat-like setting of Schloss Leopoldskron, is designed to allow intimate, dynamic and constructive engagement over the course of four days. The duration of the program is held under the Chatham House Rule to allow free and open exchange. The participatory nature of the program allows participants to engage in candid dialogue and fresh thinking, and to expand collaborate to find practical, innovative solutions that can increase the effectiveness and timeliness of outbreak response efforts.
Program Goals
This program defined a set of outbreak timeliness metrics to monitor progress towards finding and reporting outbreaks faster. We have successfully developed and socialized the outbreak timeliness metrics for the public health sector; now we seek to extend them to the livestock, wildlife, vector, and environmental communities. Incorporating these additional elements resulted in a comprehensive set of metrics that can be used for One Health surveillance.
Program Outcomes:
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