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Table 1 Examples of international research consortia launched in recent years in the context of infectious disease response

From: Global infectious disease research collaborations in crises: building capacity and inclusivity through cooperation

Acronym

Name of consortium

Consortium compositiona

COVID-19 research gaps addressed / scopea

COVID-19 − related publicationsa

AFREhealth

African Forum for Research and Education in Health

It is a conglomerate of individuals, institutions, associations and networks from all the geographic and linguistic regions of Africa

Launched the COVID-19 Research Collaboration on Children and Adolescents to address existing knowledge gaps. This consortium is expected to generate key evidence to inform clinical practice and public health policymaking for COVID-19, while concurrently addressing other major diseases affecting children in African countries

[6]

ALERRT

African coaLition for Epidemic Research, Response and Training

Consists of 21 partner organisations from 13 countries (9 African and 4 European)

Multidisciplinary consortium to reduce public health and socio-economic impact of disease outbreaks in sub-Saharan Africa by building sustainable patient-centred clinical and laboratory research preparedness and response network.

[7]

CCCC

COVID-19 Critical Care Consortium

Over 380 hospitals and affiliated research facilities in 54 countries

World-first database building an ICU profile of COVID-19 patients, applying AI and big data techniques to draw insights from anonymized data.

[8]

Discovery

Discovery, the Critical Care Research Network

Over 600 hospitals and medical centres worldwide involved in the COVID-19 registry

Creation of a global COVID-19 registry that tracks ICU and hospital care patterns in near real-time

[9]

ECRAID

European Clinical Research Alliance on Infectious Diseases

Proposed European-wide initiative

Goal of establishing a sustainable clinical research organisation and network for infectious diseases.

[10]

InFACT

International Forum for Acute Care Trialists

36 national critical care societies, networks, and groups worldwide

Contributing to an effective and coordinated global research response together with the WHO and other consortia.

[5]

ISARIC

International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium

50 ratified clinical research networks worldwide

Creating tools for investigators to collect and store data in a standardised way and supporting clinical trials of treatments

[11]

PANDORA

Pan-African Network for Rapid Research, Response, Relief and Preparedness for Infectious Diseases Epidemics

Partners from 13 African institutions and nine European institutions in nine African and four European countries

‘One Health’ initiative that supports broad themes addressing response to emerging infections, including COVID-19, in Africa and supporting this through capacity development and training. It has provided expert advice on SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic tools and validation and developed a COVID-19 diagnostic tool decision-making app

[12]

PREPARE

European Union’s Platform for European Preparedness Against (Re-) Emerging Epidemics

A common European clinical research infrastructure covering over 600 primary care sites and over 600 hospital sites in 27 EU member States.

Launched the Rapid European COVID-19 Emergency Research response (RECOVER) initiative to address urgent questions for patient and public health: citizens’ experience of COVID-19 and its impacts, household transmission and the impact of interventions to mitigate transmission, if and how children may contribute to the spread of the virus, recommendations on protecting the health of those at the frontline

[13]

ZIKAction

 

14 partners across South and Central America, the Caribbean and Europe

A multidisciplinary ready-to-act network capable of addressing any maternal and paediatric research need arising from (re-) emerging infectious diseases

[14]

ZIKAlliance

 

54 partners worldwide coordinated by INSERM, the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research.

Investigates the clinical, fundamental, environmental and social aspects of ZIKA infection and in collaboration with ZikaPLAN and ZIKAction develops the preparedness platform in Latin America and the Caribbean

[15]

ZikaPLAN

Zika Preparedness Latin America Network

Brings together 25 leading research and public health organizations in Latin America, North America, Africa, Asia, and Europe.

Comprehensive approach to tackling the Zika threat, encompassing epidemiological surveillance, clinical studies, the development of innovative diagnostic tools and control strategies, in addition to education and knowledge-sharing

[16]

  1. Blank cells indicate that publications have not been found or results have not been published yet
  2. Abbreviations: ICU intensive care unit, COVID-19 coronavirus disease 2019, AI artificial intelligence, WHO World Health Organization, EU European Union
  3. aInformation has been obtained from the consortium websites and may not be updated