WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence

💡 Is research funding going where pandemic and epidemic intelligence needs it most? In 2024, we led a global research prioritization exercise with partners and set 23 research priorities for pandemic and epidemic intelligence. Together with GloPID-R, we then looked at how well global research funding matches these priorities: we mapped the 23 priorities to GloPID-R's Pandemic PACT grant tracker, built a shared framework to find relevant awards and analysed where the funding goes, with the Pandemic PACT team at Pandemic Sciences Institute, University of Oxford, leading the analysis. ➡️Read the publication here: https://lnkd.in/erBCi5Bq 📉 Key findings from 26,028 research awards in the Pandemic PACT grant tracker (January 2020 to September 2025) show: • Only 1.6% matched the pandemic and epidemic intelligence priorities • 98.9% of these awards came from funders in North America and Europe • 88.7% of the awards had research locations in high-income countries • Only 2 were jointly funded by more than one funder 📌 What does this mean for the research funding landscape?  • Pandemic and epidemic intelligence receives only a small share of research funding. More investment here can strengthen preparedness and response. • Research funding comes from few funders in few regions. A broader funder base would make it more sustainable.  • Most funded research funded through these awards takes place in high-income countries, yet research in low- and middle-income countries is essential for local capacity and global health security.  • Funders rarely fund research jointly. Closer coordination can make the most of limited resources.

Stronger laboratory systems begin with strong leadership. The Global Laboratory Leadership Programme (GLLP) supports current and emerging laboratory leaders in developing the skills they need to build, strengthen and sustain national laboratory systems. The complete Global Laboratory Leadership Programme (GLLP) materials are now openly accessible, empowering countries and organizations worldwide to access,  adapt and implement high-quality laboratory leadership resources while maintaining alignment with GLLP’s core competencies. We encourage users to explore the resources, apply them within their own contexts, and share their experiences to help inform the continued evolution of GLLP. 📚 Register on the WHO Health Security Learning Platform to access all the materials: https://lnkd.in/eTtBq3bs The Global Laboratory Leadership Programme brings together human, animal and environmental health under a One Health approach and has been developed: APHL - Association of Public Health Laboratories, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), FAO, World Organisation for Animal Health and World Health Organization.

Eric Sutherland has a specific worry about how some countries are approaching AI in health right now: treating artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure, and data governance as three separate conversations, instead of one. In a recent episode of The Innovation Forum AI Podcast, he explains why that separation matters. His framing: health data, digital systems, and AI are the water, the pipes, and the taps of the same system. Strengthen only one, and the other two can't deliver value on their own. That's also why, when the OECD - OCDE set out to help countries scale AI in health responsibly, it didn't publish a list of requirements. It built a checklist of questions, designed to help health systems identify their own gaps, in whatever order makes sense for their context. His broader point for public health leaders: responsible scale isn't about picking the right technology first. It's about making sure the foundation, and the questions being asked, are strong enough to support it. Full episode link in the first comment. #AIinPublicHealth #AIGovernance #InnovationForumPodcast

"We are at a point now where we are at risk of causing harm by not using these AI systems and AI solutions." The latest episode of The Innovation Forum AI Podcast features Eric Sutherland, Senior Health Economist at the OECD - OCDE and co-author of Scaling Artificial Intelligence in Health, on what it actually takes to move AI in health from experimentation to scale. What the conversation covers: 💧 The "water, pipes, and taps" framework: why data, digital infrastructure, and AI can't be governed as three separate tracks 🤝 Why "the scale of AI will only happen at the pace of trust", and what breaks that trust fastest 🌍 Inside the recent Madrid conference that brought together 140 experts, including from beyond the OECD, to build an Action Plan for responsible AI scale ⚖️ Why protecting data without ever using it can break trust, too Full episode link in the first comment. #AIinPublicHealth #AIGovernance #InnovationForumPodcast

🔬 Are you looking to strengthen laboratory leadership in your country or organization? The complete Global Laboratory Leadership Programme (GLLP) materials are now freely available online, making it easier for countries, institutions, and organizations to strengthen laboratory leadership capacity. Whether you're implementing the full Global Laboratory Leadership Programme or integrating selected competencies into existing programmes, these resources can now be accessed and adapted to local contexts. 📚Register on the WHO Health Security Learning Platform to access all the materials: https://lnkd.in/eTtBq3bs The Global Laboratory Leadership Programme brings together human, animal and environmental health under a One Health approach and has been developed by: APHL - Association of Public Health Laboratories, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), FAO, World Organisation for Animal Health and World Health Organization.

Five years ago today, German chancellor Angela Merkel and WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus inaugurated the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence in Berlin. Andrew Green from Devex visited the Hub and spoke with our director and experts about the achievements of the last years and the opportunities that lie ahead. For those of you who have Devex Pro, you can read the article here: https://lnkd.in/ecRhPR_T

Great to see our GOARN-Berlin fellow Nining Puji Lestari from the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia in action! Read more about the workshop she delivered in Yogyakarta, Indonesia as part of her fellowship ⬇️

📢 A new €8 million Horizon Europe initiative will use artificial intelligence to help detect and respond to infectious disease threats earlier. 📢 Led by the University of Oxford in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) and an international consortium of leading research, public health and technology partners, the three-year PANDAI project will develop and deploy advanced artificial intelligence (AI) models to transform the detection, assessment, prediction and response to global infectious disease threats. These efforts will complement and work with existing WHO programmes such as the Epidemic Intelligence from Open Sources Initiative. PANDAI will harness AI to bring together information from areas including disease surveillance, the environment, health systems, animal health, population movement and pathogen genetics. The aim is to help public health authorities: • identify emerging threats sooner • assess risks more quickly and accurately • understand how threats may develop • compare possible response measures • make fast evidence-informed recommendations to support decisions The initiative will be tested across several types of infectious disease, including arboviruses such as dengue and West Nile virus, respiratory viruses such as influenza, and mpox. “This initiative will make a real difference to how the public health community can act on data, by bringing together far more sources and perspectives than we've had access to before. By building on existing WHO systems and expanding use of AI, we'll be able to pick out and prioritise the most important signals faster, build a fuller picture of the risk, and quickly recommend the right control measures for the situation at hand serving Member States.” Marc-Alain Widdowson, Head Pandemic Threats, Communicable Diseases and Antimicrobial Resistance, WHO Europe. The PANDAI consortium will also address privacy, ethics and fairness, with safeguards to protect people’s rights and personal data. The initiative was officially launched at a consortium meeting in Oxford on 25–26 June 2026. #PublicHealth #ArtificialIntelligence #HealthSecurity Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU) WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence icddr,b Luxembourg National Data Service (LNDS) Clalit Health Services Arteevo Technologies Ltd. Bahia Software Technovate Solution Ltd Infectious Disease Alliance Richard Maude Marc-Alain Widdowson