Delhi AIIMS joins WHO Global network for pandemic preparedness

New Delhi: The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi has become one of the WHO global network sites for pandemic preparedness and emergency response under the Global Influenza Surveillance And Response System (GISRS).

The World Health Organisation (WHO), during the Covid crisis, had started the global network of Unity Study sites, which conduct investigations and studies rapidly in the event of a pandemic, or epidemic of an emerging or re-emerging pathogen.

The network will ensure response readiness for rapid evaluation of critical tools to supplement routine surveillance systems to address specific questions, particularly in the early stages of a pandemic or an epidemic, Dr Puneet Misra, Professor of Community Medicine at AIIMS, said, news agency PTI reported.

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Unity Studies are standardization research protocol developed by WHO that may be implemented during the inter-pandemic period as well as any future pandemic of respiratory pathogen, Dr Misra explained.

The Unity Study protocols aim to rapidly gather evidence to facilitate evidence-based public health policy. These protocols advocate standardized and uniform method of data collection on epidemiological exposure, and the collection of biological specimens, he said.

"This approach permits rapid sharing of data in a format that can be easily aggregated, tabulated and analysed across many different settings globally for timely public health response," Dr Misra said.

The COVID-19 pandemic was a global public health emergency, he said.

Although the health systems had the experience of dealing with infectious outbreaks and epidemics in past, but at time of COVID, WHO realised the need of generic protocols for standardised data for public health measures at global level to make processes and systems in place to deal with a public health emergency of such magnitude and be alert for any future outbreak, Dr Misra underlined.

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that the unity protocol studies added value, and that they could be implemented both in high as well as in low-to-middle income countries.

Within the WHO South-East Asia Region (SEARO), which includes 11 member countries, only five sites have been selected for establishing Unity Study site.

"AIIMS, Delhi, is privileged and proud to be one of the five sites designated as network site for Pandemic Preparedness and Emergency Response from the World Health Organization under the leadership of Dr Puneet Misra, Professor of Community Medicine," a statement issued by the hospital said, reports PTI.

Importantly, this centre will continue to function even in non-pandemic periods, contributing to broader public health actions, capacity building, and preparedness activities, ensuring that the systems remain robust and ready to respond effectively whenever needed, the statement added.

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