Recent major public health crises such as the H1N1 2009 Pandemic and Ebola in West Africa showed the importance of understanding the many factors influencing the emergence and spread of epidemics.
In response the World Health Organization has hosted a landmark conference attended by over 130 international experts from multi-disciplinary fields to begin to define these elements within which epidemics of the future will occur.
This aims of the consultation were
- to create a forum for discussion by bringing together multi-disciplinary experts in a forward- thinking exercise on how to better anticipate and prepare for epidemics;
- to engage with a wide range of expertise and experience in order to shape international collaboration to tackle future infectious risks;
- to identify approaches to improve detection, early analysis and interpretation of factors that drive emergence and amplification of emerging disease epidemics.
The landmark event discussed elucidated the drivers of emergence and amplification of infectious disease outbreaks that will guide and inform future preparedness, response and research and development efforts.
The meeting utilized graphical representations of the topics and ideas discussed.
For more information, inlcuding presentations from the event visit http://www.who.int/csr/disease/anticipating_epidemics/events/informal-consultation/en/