Report on – 33rd IC Resolution 3: Time to act: Tackling epidemics and pandemics together (33IC/19/R3) – U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Has your State/National Society/Institution incorporated the commitments contained in this resolution into the relevant strategic or operational plans?

The commitments are incorporated into:
Strategy
Policy

At the International, National level

Explanation:

1. UK Global Health Framework
– The UK Government’s Global Health Framework sets out our ambition to play a leading role in improving health globally and in building resilience to future health threats. It outlines the actions we are taking during the period 2023 to 2025 in support of health and for a safer and more prosperous UK and world.
– The first objective is to ‘Strengthen global health security through improved preparedness and response to future epidemics, pandemics, drug-resistant infections and climate change’. As part of this objective, we have committed to support partner countries, institutions, and regions to prevent, detect and respond to health threats by providing technical expertise and building strong peer to peer partnerships with national, regional and global health institutions. We do this through our bilateral and multilateral support including support to the World Bank, WHO, FAO, UNICEF, Gavi and the Global Fund and bilateral programmes such as the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team, the IHR Strengthening Project, the second phase of the Tackling Deadly Diseases in Africa Programme and the Animal Health Systems Strengthening Project.
– We are working to accelerate development, deployment and equitable access to safe and effective vaccines, treatments, and diagnostics and other technologies. This includes the UK Government’s commitment to the 100 Days Mission, launched during our G7 Presidency in 2021. The mission aims to prevent millions of deaths and global economic impacts by setting a target of 100 days from a pandemic threat being identified to the availability of safe, effective and affordable vaccines, treatments and diagnostics. This builds on our earlier and current investments in, for example, the UK Vaccine Network. We will continue to work in international partnerships with academia and the private sector to support research and development; manufacturing innovation; and strengthening of the international clinical trials ecosystem in low and middle-income countries. This includes supporting the implementation of the World Health Assembly (WHA) Resolution on clinical trials, our work with the WHO, the Global Health Security Initiative, supporting the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), and with leading regional partners such as Institut Pasteur de Dakar.

2. UK Biological Security Strategy

– In 2023, the UK published the 2023 Biological Security Strategy. The Strategy sets out the Government’s ambition to ensure that by 2030 the UK is resilient to a spectrum of biological threats and a world leader in responsible innovation, making a positive impact on global health, economic and security outcomes. Commitments include engaging with industry to further UK efforts to achieve the 100 Days Mission, thereby reducing the impact of future pandemics by making vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics available within 100 days of a future outbreak.
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3. Pandemic Preparedness Toolkit

– Spanning four continents (Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America), the Pandemic Preparedness Toolkit (PPT) is a new collaborative project between the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the National Statistic Offices of Argentina, Malawi, and Nepal. Funded by Wellcome, this project is being undertaken from 2023 to 2028. The aim is to co-create an accessible, usable and sustainable online toolkit that will build capacity in NSOs for health surveillance in the event of future pandemics.
– The ONS will build on its own pandemic surveillance and statistical leadership expertise, as well as the breadth of different experiences of the Pathfinder Partners, to learn from each other and co-develop the toolkit. Seven key themes will be included in the toolkit, having been identified as essential for an effective pandemic response:

– surveys and data collection
– data analysis
– outputs and reporting
– training
– stakeholder engagement and leadership
– legislation and processes
– cross-cutting theme: using technology

– Once live, the PPT will be a collection of online modules providing practical guidance, statistical methods, knowledge products, case studies, and training materials. This project will be the first of its kind to provide a resource specifically designed for NSOs to advise on, and conduct, trusted infectious disease surveillance and work effectively with public health offices to implement evidence-based policies.
– Further collaborations are planned with other NSOs, academics and other non-governmental organisations through the PPT Global Network, to ensure that the toolkit reaches its full potential.”

4. Financial and technical support to enhance global health security

In September 2023, the UK announced almost £500 million to support global health at the UN General Assembly (UNGA). This wide-ranging package included support for:
– the Global Health Security Research & Development Programme to bolster the world’s ability to respond swiftly and effectively to disease outbreaks, alongside a new research centre focused on the most dangerous infectious diseases;
– the Ending Preventable Deaths Research Programme, which will reduce maternal, neonatal, and child mortality in low- and middle-income countries. By developing new vaccines, drugs, medical devices, and diagnostics, and generating evidence on what works, this programme aims to improve the health of women and girls, and combat infectious diseases, particularly focused on reaching the most vulnerable in remote areas;
– the UK Vaccine Network Activity programme to facilitate critical research into combating infectious diseases that have the potential to cause epidemics and ensure vaccines are accessible to all people in need. This builds on the UK’s success of being the first country in the world to authorise a vaccine for Covid-19; and
– the Tackling Deadly Diseases in Africa Programme II to work in partnerships with African regional institutions (including WHO AFRO and Africa CDC) and five focus countries to strengthen Africa’s ability to prevent and respond to future epidemics, drug resistant infections and climate change.
– £160 million of the R&D funding will go to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to support the development of vaccines against priority pathogens that effect low- and middle-income countries and to support national and regional manufacturing capacities.

The Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office supports product development partnerships, which will be taken forward through a call that ran from December 2023, with partners likely to be announced later in 2024.

Has your State/National Society/Institution been working with other partners to implement the commitments contained in this resolution?

Partner with:
National Red Cross or Red Crescent Society in your country
Government and/or public authorities
Humanitarian and development partners (e.g. UN, NGOs etc.)

Examples of cooperation:

1. Red Cross Movement

– The FCDO allocates funding annually to support the Red Cross Movement’s global humanitarian efforts. This includes over £60 million of predictable unearmarked core funding each year to aid the Red Cross Movement’s operations worldwide, enhancing the health and safety of volunteers and staff in various crises, such as epidemics and disasters.
– Specifically, the FCDO provides £2 million annually to the British Red Cross for its international projects. Additionally, the FCDO allocates £2.7 million per year to the IFRC Disaster Response Emergency Fund, a portion of which is dedicated to early action initiatives in anticipation of potential disasters.
– In 2023/24, the UK allocated the following additional funds:
– – £3m to the Zimbabwe cholera appeal, Zambia cholera appeal, and Malawi hunger crisis appeal.
– – £200,000 for community-based interventions in the cholera response (IFRC Zimbabwe emergency appeal).

2. Other country governments

– The UK Public Health Rapid Support Team (UK-PHRST) provides public health experts who work with low- and middle- income country partners to address the threat posed by infectious disease outbreaks through an integrated triple remit of outbreak response, research to inform best practice in interventions, and capacity strengthening to help improve long-term preparedness and response. It holds deployable public health expertise in a wide range of disciplines including mental health and psychosocial support.
– The IHR Strengthening Project, funded by UK Official Development Assistance, provides peer to peer technical expertise, working with ODA-eligible partner countries and regions to strengthen National Public Health Institutes and support public health partners to prepare, prevent, detect, and respond to global health threats.
– The UK provides consular assistance to British nationals who need our help in a crisis, for example following a natural disaster, civil unrest, terrorism, or a major transport accident. We work with the appropriate authorities and other organisations to help those affected. We sometimes send additional FCDO staff to support in-country when it is safe to do so.

3. United Nations
– The UK provides support to the UN system through standby partnerships to ensure the availability of skilled personnel in responses. We provide multilateral support to a range of UN agencies and programmes to support improved PPR including WHO, FAO, UNEP and UNICEF. At UNGA, the UK has supported the global health Political Declarations on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response, on Universal Health Coverage and on Tuberculosis.

4. The World Health Organisation
– As part of our wider efforts to improve pandemic prevention, preparedness and response and global health security, the UK is participating in negotiations, under the auspice of the WHO, to draft and negotiate a new convention, agreement or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response (‘the Pandemic Accord’) and on targeted amendments to the International Health Regulations (2005).

Have you encountered any challenges in implementing the commitments contained in this resolution?

Have the commitments contained in this resolution had an impact on the work and direction of your State/National Society/Institution?

Have the commitments contained in this resolution had an impact on the communities that your State/National Society/Institution serves?

Description of the impact:

The UK Medical Emergency Team works with local healthcare staff and organisations to be better prepared for emergencies through training and capacity building; helping to rebuild local healthcare systems and empower staff to respond against outbreaks or disasters.

Since its inception, the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team has undertaken 38 deployments, delivered 46 research studies and supported ODA-eligible partners to strengthen their capacity to deliver improvements during outbreak response. In 2023/24, partner institutions identified tangible contributions made by the UK PHRST in 100% of UK-PHRST deployments. For example, in October 2022, the UK PHRST deployed two infection prevention and control (IPC) specialists to Uganda to support with the Sudan ebolavirus outbreak response. The team provided technical assistance and developed resources for the Ministry of Health (MoH) and other partners, including a national IPC readiness and response strategy and an assessment scorecard. They also supported partner engagement and coordination and delivered capacity strengthening webinars to nearly 1,000 frontline health workers. MoH feedback was extremely positive, particularly the support provided in the IPC strategic plans, which will support the response to future outbreaks in Uganda.

In addition, the UK PRST has developed a consortium of mental health and psychosocial support partners, building national and regional outbreak response capacity. Key outputs include a massive open online course on ‘COVID-19: Psychological First Aid in Africa’ (in English and French), which has been completed by over 4,000 enrolled participants.