The WHO HUB Office at the Centre for In­ter­na­tio­nal Health Pro­tec­tion coordinates joint projects with the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence, which started its work in Berlin in September 2021. The collaboration is agreed in a two-year work plan including four projects that are now presented on the RKI website. The meeting of the joint steering committee took place in July 2023.

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Côte d’Ivoire developed into a focus country of RKI’s efforts in protecting health globally through various research projects since the early 2000s. These efforts resulted in three important milestones in the collaboration in June 2023, for example a modern molecular diagnostic and genomic sequencing teaching laboratory was opened in Bouaké.

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In early July 2023, colleagues from Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (FLI), Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), National Veterinary Research Institute of Nigeria (NVRI) and RKI’s Centre for International Health Protection gathered in Abuja, Nigeria, to kick off COPE. COPE stands for “Community-based One Health Participatory and Empowerment Strategy”.

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The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the WHO and the RKI launched a Health Security Partnership to Strengthen Disease Surveillance and Epidemic Intelligence in Africa on 18 July 2023. RKI’s Centre for International Health Protection (ZIG) will implement the partnership, led by the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence as global health partner in Berlin. The activities of ZIG will focus on molecular diagnostics and epidemic intelligence.

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From 8 to 12 May 2023, the WHO Regional Office for Europe, its “Health Emergencies Balkan Hub” together with the WHO Country Office in Kosovo facilitated a health security capacity assessment in Kosovo. 15 technical experts from eight countries, among them two delegates from the RKI, reviewed the self-evaluation data provided for their technical area in depth, and participated in structured site visits and meetings organised by the host country.

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The Global Health Protection Programme (GHPP) was initiated by the German Federal Ministry of Health in 2016 as a strategic component of Germany’s international cooperation. The second funding phase of the programme started in January 2023 with around 40 new projects, among them 25 projects managed by the Robert Koch Institute. The GHPP secretariat at the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) has recently launched the new GHPP website.

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On 3-4 May 2023, five meeting rooms at the RKI in Berlin-Wedding turned into a simulated emergency scenario space, kicking-off the first module of the Full-Scale Interregional Field Simulation Exercise (IFX) for the Rapid Response Mobile Laboratories (RRMLs) of the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN). While ZIG 4 and the WHO GOARN CC at ZIG 1 co-organised the event in liaison with the WHO, eight members from across the ZIG units supported the implementation as technical validators, role players or reporters.

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On 30 and 31 March 2023, the team of the German National Focal Point for Emergency Medical Teams at ZIG 3 hosted the annual meeting of the European EMT Regional Group in Berlin. While focusing on strategic and structural discussions, the meeting also provided an opportunity to share lessons learned from the recent emergencies and to exchange views on region-specific topics.

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The "Assessing and increasing vaccine readiness in Sub-Saharan Africa" project (VRSA) had its official kick-off workshop with partners from Guinea at the Robert Koch Institute on 21-22 March 2023. The main objective was to collaboratively work on a road map for the project, and to provide a platform to network for the project partners.

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As part of the staff exchange between the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the RKI, the first incoming cohort of six Africa CDC delegates spent a three-week long visit at the RKI in March 2023. The Africa CDC delegates engaged in knowledge exchange with staff from various units across RKI and explored opportunities for future collaboration.

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At the end of February 2023 staff from ZIG 2, ZIG 4, ZBS 2 and the ZIG RKI WHO HUB Office welcomed colleagues from Madagascar for a two-day planning and collaboration workshop in Berlin. A joint project will assess Madagascar’s public health system, capacities for detection and surveillance of major vector-borne diseases through a one health approach, and develop a roadmap to strengthen and increase the resilience of the public health system.

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The Centre for International Health Protection (ZIG) started its work in January 2019 and was soon confronted with the COVID-19 pandemic. Eight board members, among them chairman Peter Piot, former Director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and co-discoverer of the Ebola virus in 1976, came to Berlin and met in person for the first time.

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The Robert Koch Institute plays a central role in the implementation of the Global Health Protection Programme (GHPP) launched by the German Federal Ministry of Health in 2016. The second programme phase started in January 2023, the RKI is implementing 25 projects which are coordinated again by the Centre for International Health Protection.

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