The goal of the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence is to track, collect, analyze and use data from epidemics and pandemics to better prepare for, detect early and prevent future pandemic outbreaks. Partners of the international hub include Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin. The opening ceremony is co-organized by the World Health Summit.
The hub will encourage researchers, government officials and private partners from around the world to meet and create collaborative databases from a variety of sources, including public health, social and behavioral research, social and traditional media, and mobility, travel and environmental data. These databases will enable multidisciplinary collaboration in the development of tools and predictive models for risk analysis using state-of-the-art technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI).
In this way, the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence aims to be a global platform for pandemic and epidemic intelligence that creates shared and networked access to critical cross-sectoral data, drives innovation in data analytics, and builds the communities of practice needed to predict, prevent, detect, prepare for, and respond to global health threats.
World Health Summit President Axel R. Pries, also dean of Charité, says of the Pandemic Preparedness Hub:
"The new WHO Hub is an important signal for Berlin as a science location, where important players from health and digitalization come together. It is also a clear signal for international research cooperation: without cooperation, the problems of global health cannot be solved. That is one of the fundamental lessons from COVID-19. Viruses do not stop at borders."
To mark the opening of the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence, an inaugural event will be held on 01 September 2021, from 15:00 to 16:30, followed by a digital press conference for journalists. Both events are available as livestream.
To read
- World Health Organization (05.05.2021): WHO, Germany launch new global hub for pandemic and epidemic intelligence
