Hub members spoke at a Special Technical Session on Building a resilient biomedical disaster response: learning from the Covid-19 pandemic organised by The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

This session was part of the 5th World Congress on Disaster Management (WCDM), which is taking place in New Delhi, India, this week. The Congress is bringing together researchers, policymakers and practitioners from around the world to discuss three critical issues that pose the most serious challenges, as well as hold the best possible promises, of building resilience to disasters, namely technology, finance, and capacity.

The Special Technical Session focused on four key themes:

  • Approaches to pathogen outbreaks
  • Pandemics: Lessons learned and future challenges
  • Health Emergency Preparedness
  • Global partnerships on biosecurity

Hub Director Professor Fiona Tomley and Professor Rajib Dasgupta of Jawaharlal Nehru University in India gave presentations under the second theme. Professor Tomley’s presentation was entitled ‘One Health & reduction of public health risks from poultry’.   View Professor  fiona Tomley’s presentation

Professor Dasgupta’s presentation was entitled ‘What does it take to make a multisectoral partnership work for disaster preparedness?’. View Professor Rajib DasguPta’s slides

Professor Robyn Alders of Chatham House and Hub Roadmap Series lead presented on ‘Decreased zoonotic disease, increased food safety: the multiple benefits of a One Health approach to Public Health Emergency Preparedness’.

View Professor Robyn Alder’s slides

Representatives from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, NITI Ayog, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, World Health Organization, academic institutions and other organisations around the world also took part in this event.