Ed Newman appointed as GOARN Steering Committee Co-Chair

Dr Ed Newman, Director of the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team (UK-PHRST) has recently been elected as co-deputy chair of the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) Steering Committee.

UK-PHRST deploys experts to support Africa CDC mpox response

The UK-PHRST has deployed two of its experts to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to support Africa Centres for Disease Control (Africa CDC) in its response to the ongoing mpox epidemic.

Green for go: UK-PHRST joins international teams to test-run co-deploying mobile lab equipment and expertise

The Rapid Response Mobile Lab (RRML) Network – a community of practice of lab specialists and experts created by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) – recently set about creating, testing and refining a common set of RRML Minimum Operational Standards. As a part of the RRML Network, the UK-Public Health Rapid Support Team took part in the first ever Interregional Field Simulation Exercise (IFX): a three-part exercise to review and test the proposed minimum standards across the whole RRML life cycle, from pre-deployment, during outbreak response and end-of-mission phases. Here are the highlights, challenges and learnings from the three-part exercise.

UK-PHRST attends CPHIA Conference 2023: Repositioning Africa in the global health architecture

In November, UK-PHRST members attended the 2023 International Conference on Public Health in Africa (CPHIA) in Lusaka Zambia alongside thousands of delegates from across Africa and worldwide. They launched a Global Health Diplomacy course which was co-developed with Africa CDC, discussed how best to respond to infectious disease outbreaks and strengthened our partnership with Africa CDC to support mental health across the continent. This annual conference provides a unique African-led platform for leaders across the continent to reflect on lessons learned in health and science and align on a way forward for creating more resilient health systems.

Learning Review 2022: The importance of partnerships and mutual learning to the UK-PHRST

The UK-PHRST and international partners reviewed their previous work, evaluating its strengths and weaknesses as part of a three-day Learning Review Session in Cape Town, South Africa in September 2022. The newly published UK-PHRST and Partners Learning Review Post Review Reflections & Actions Report highlights case studies that arose during the discussions and provides 35 recommendations for improved future ways of working.

New briefing paper flags priority research questions to improve cleaning practices in resource-limited hospital settings

This briefing paper by the CLEAN research group, first convened in mid-2022 as part of a UK-PHRST project, sets out 12 priority research questions to improve cleaning practices in resource-limited healthcare settings and help prevent infections and antimicrobial resistance among staff and patients.