About the project
Spanning four continents (Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America), the Pandemic Preparedness Toolkit (PPT) is a new collaborative project between the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the NSOs of Argentina, Malawi, and Nepal.
The primary aim of the project is to co-create an accessible, sustainable, online toolkit that will build capacity in NSOs for infectious disease surveillance. The secondary aim of the project is to facilitate NSOs' capability to produce, and advocate for, timely evidence for effective responses to future outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics.
The ONS will build on their own pandemic surveillance and statistical leadership expertise, as well as the breadth of different experiences of the Pathfinder Partners, to learn from each other and co-develop the toolkit. Five key themes will be included in the toolkit, having been identified as essential for an effective infectious disease response:
data collection
data analysis
outputs and reporting
stakeholder engagement and leadership
legislation
Once live, the PPT will be a collection of online modules providing practical guidance, statistical methods, knowledge products, case studies, and training materials. This project will be the first of its kind to provide a resource specifically designed for NSOs to advise on, and conduct, trusted infectious disease surveillance and work effectively with public health offices to implement evidence-based policies.
The final toolkit will be freely accessible, usable, and sustainable, meaning all interested parties will be able to benefit from its resources.
Project timeline
Year 1 (2023 - 2024): Partnerships in place
Year 2 (2024 to 2025): Toolkit outline
Year 3 (2025 to 2026): Toolkit live – private
Year 4 (2026 to 2027): Toolkit live – public
Year 5 (2027 to 2028): Sustainable toolkit solution in place
Following the project start in April 2023, year one focused on capturing 'Lessons Learnt' from the COVID-19 pandemic response, forming Pathfinder Partnerships, and engaging wider stakeholders to inform the toolkit design. During years two to four, the toolkit is being developed, tested, and iterated through a collaborative approach. The final year will focus on promotion, training and securing a sustainable long-term solution for the toolkit by project completion in March 2028.
About our partners
Our three Pathfinder Partner NSOs are:
Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos (INDEC), Argentina
Nepal National Statistics Office
National Statistical Office of Malawi
Each Pathfinder Partner NSO is working closely with an in-country Delivery Partner on the project. The in-country Delivery Partners are:
Centre for Medical Education and Clinical Research (CEMIC), Argentina
HERD International, Nepal
Luke International, Malawi
Global Network
Further collaborations are planned with other NSOs, government departments, academics, and non-governmental organisations through the Global Network. Global Network members can be kept up to date about the progress of the PPT via our quarterly newsletter and may be asked to contribute to ad hoc Toolkit development activities.
About our funder
This projectis led by the ONS and funded by Wellcome(Grant number 226596/Z/22/Z).
Contacts
To contact the Pandemic Preparedness Toolkit project, or to find out more about getting involved in our Global Network, please email: PPT@ons.gov.uk
For our latest updates, you can follow ONS on Twitter: @ONSfocus.
Related links
Working across four continents to prepare ourselves for another pandemic
National Statistical blog | released 8 March 2024
In this blog Emma Rourke announces the PPT Pathfinder Partners: Argentina, Malawi, and Nepal
Preparing for another global pandemic
National Statistical blog | released 17 October 2023
In this blog Emma Rourke introduces the background and aspirations for the PPT project.