International Pathogen Surveillance Network:
The International Pathogen Surveillance Network recently announced the first round of grants towards understanding disease threats.
- It is a public health network to prevent and detect infectious disease threats before they become epidemics or pandemics.
- The IPSN, with a Secretariat hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO) Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence, brings together experts worldwide at the cutting-edge of genomics and data analytics, from governments, philanthropic foundations, multilateral organizations, civil society, academia and the private sector.
- All share a common goal: to detect and respond to disease threats before they become epidemics and pandemics, and to optimize routine disease surveillance.
- IPSN will rely on insights generated from pathogen genomics, which helps analyze the genetic material of viruses, bacteria, and other disease-causing microorganisms to determine how they spread and how infectious or deadly they may be.
- Using these data, researchers can identify and track diseases to improve outbreak prevention, response, and treatments.
- Members will work together in dedicated groups focusing on specific challenges, supported by funding through the IPSN to scale up ideas and projects in pathogen genomics.
- By strengthening the pathogen genomic surveillance ecosystem, the IPSN enables faster detection of new pathogens and enhanced tracking of the spread and evolution of diseases.
