Recommendation 39

HM Government · verbatim extract Accepted

The government partially accepts this recommendation, whilst recognising the very strong existing international relationships which have been employed from the beginning and continued through the pandemic. Future collaboration with other countries will build on a strong foundation of joint learning and working that has already been established and demonstrated in previous incidents (for example, the West African Ebola outbreak or through the UK Rapid Public Health Support Team). UKHSA is actively committed to collaborating with other organisations and countries and will continue to both contribute to and learn from global experience, while recognising that cross-country comparisons are notoriously difficult given differing population profiles and other factors. The government also notes that countries quoted publicly as having adopted successful responses have in some cases followed very divergent policies, and also that perspectives on which countries are responding effectively have shifted somewhat. PHE/UKHSA has been an active member of IANPHI, which facilitates peer review and learning between 110 institutions in 95 countries. The IANPHI forum has been actively engaged in sharing learning and insights into COVID-19 and on broader aspects of public health capacity development. PHE/UKHSA has actively contributed to and benefitted from such learning. PHE/UKHSA has also been an active participant of the WHO Evidence Collaborative for COVID-19 Network, which has been supporting systematic reviews and the sharing of evidence to inform global practice. In addition to these formal networks, strong partnerships exist allowing informal linkages with a number of NPHIs for rapid idea exchange. There is regular dialogue between experts in different countries, sharing experiences and approaches, for example the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands, and the Robert Koch Institute in Germany. These meetings can be convened rapidly, focus on specific issues and foster strong collaboration with other countries and organisations. The UK has hosted a number of sessions throughout the pandemic in response to requests from international partners to learn from its experience and these continue on a regular basis. The UK is also co-chairing work on the proposed WHO international pathogen surveillance network.