Novel IT system helping the EU prepare for pandemic scenarios Pandemics are a major threat to our health and security. To protect citizens, effective pandemic preparedness and response at all levels is needed. Following the PANDEM project, the EU-funded PANDEM-2 project will develop a prototype IT system to enhance planning, situational awareness and decision support capabilities for pandemic management within the EU. The project will track the health, social and economic impact of a pandemic by capturing and integrating pandemic-relevant data from international, laboratory and social media systems which will be available on an online dashboard to support decision-making. The system will be tested in various demonstrations in Member States.
PANDEM-2 implements and demonstrates the most important novel concepts and IT systems to improve the capacity of European pandemic planning and response. Following the PANDEM project (with the same coordinator and many shared partners) and extensive subsequent stakeholder engagement, research and prioritisation, PANDEM-2 meets the real-world needs of public health agencies responsible for pandemics (‘pandemic managers’) and first responders across Europe.
PANDEM-2 will enable and demonstrate the capture and integration of pandemic-relevant data from international systems (Go.Data outputs, EWRS, TESSy, etc.), participative surveillance (Influenzanet, Studybugs, etc.), from laboratory (next generation sequencing) systems and from social media (Twitter, Reddit). This data will be accessible and analysed via an online dashboard designed and built to support the specific needs of pandemic managers. Additional high-priority tools for pandemic spread prediction, visual analytics and resources management, including workforce capacity mapping, will improve preparedness and planning and enable pandemic managers to be as well positioned as possible for a pandemic when it comes. To test the system while networking and building relationships across borders and organisations, pandemic managers and first responders from multiple Member States will work together in EU-wise demonstrations, planning and responding to several pandemic scenarios, from Ebola to SARS/MERS CoV, to pandemic influenza.