Pandemics affect every aspect of society and, as such, preparedness plans must approach the emergence of new pathogens in a multidimensional way, looking at the direct and indirect impacts on the healthcare system and wider society in both the short and long-term. Plans should be flexible enough to cope with pathogens of different types (viral, bacterial), transmitted via different routes, that have different levels of transmissibility and severity. Under this workstream, ESCAPE is producing an evidence-based  decision aid, which incorporates these different dimensions, to support decision-makers in their management of future pandemics. This work begins with identifying a wide range of pathogens with pandemic potential, categorising these into archetypes and developing a decision making tool  to suggest possible courses of action for different epidemiological scenarios. This is a collaborative exercise, in which we are working with policy-makers, technical advisors and practitioners to incorporate their feedback on the decision aid at various stages of its development and making adjustments as needed.

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Work package lead: 

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM)

Participants of the consortium:

Hasselt University (UH), University of Antwerp (UA), National Institute of Public Health and Environment (RIVM), National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM),

Institute for Scientific Interchange (ISI), National Institute of Health Doctor Ricardo Jorge (INSA), University of Bern (UBern)