A new bio-security lab is boosting Ecuador’s pandemic preparedness

January 31, 2023

A new bio-security lab is boosting Ecuador’s pandemic preparedness

Why Ecuador’s government and health workers are determined to make their health system more resilient - and how German technical cooperation supports this endeavour.

Strengthening health value chains by partnering with the private sector in the SADC region

December 9, 2022

Strengthening health value chains by partnering with the private sector in the SADC region

How and why German development cooperation invests, technically and financially, in local manufacturing of medical and pharmaceutical products.

A critical juncture for SORMAS: from national to regional outlook and beyond

December 8, 2022

A critical juncture for SORMAS: from national to regional outlook and beyond

SORMAS (Surveillance Outbreak Response Management & Analysis System) is increasingly recognised as a digital system that can provide policy-relevant data and management support across the One Health domains - not only at local and national level, but potentially at regional and global levels too.

A moonshot for Africa’s health security: Co-creating Africa’s own vaccine industry

November 27, 2021

A moonshot for Africa’s health security: Co-creating Africa’s own vaccine industry

When health workers in African countries read the labels on the vaccine shots they administer - be they against measles or COVID-19 - they mostly find that they were produced on a different continent.

No more simulations: pandemic preparedness gets real

May 7, 2020

No more simulations: pandemic preparedness gets real

Liberian-German cooperation takes on new meaning in the era of COVID-19

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Pandemic preparedness

Without pandemic preparedness infectious disease outbreaks can swiftly turn into global threats.

No single country is in a position – on its own – to protect itself against international public health threats. With over two billion passengers travelling by air annually, disease outbreaks which go unnoticed or are not stopped at their point of origin can spread to multiple locations. The emergence of SARS in 2003, the subsequent outbreaks of ‘avian flu’, ‘swine flu’ and Ebola are all reminders of our shared vulnerability to disease and newly arising health threats. Twelve years before COVID-19, most scientists prophetically agreed that the emergence of another, potentially severe pandemic of influenza was only a matter of time.

‘Pandemic preparedness’ refers to a country’s state of readiness to prevent, detect, report and respond to disease outbreaks. Being prepared requires country-level preparedness based on a resilient national health system, on the one hand, and transparent and trust-based communication and collaboration at an international level to deal with emergent outbreaks, on the other.

Supporting pandemic preparedness of partner countries to strengthen the resilience of their health systems and to protect their populations is a priority of German development cooperation, as reflected in the articles, events and studies presented on this page.

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