Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency strengthens international cooperation in medical response to infectious diseases with WHO

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency announced on the 29th that it will participate in the 4th WHO Interim Medical Response Measures Network (i-MCM-net) Global Partner Forum to be held in Seoul for three days until the 1st of next month.

The Temporary Medical Response Means Network is a system established in 2023 under the leadership of the World Health Organization to improve the gap in accessibility and supply chain issues between countries in medical response means such as vaccines and treatments in the course of responding to COVID-19. It is responsible for coordinating the entire cycle from the development of medical response means to actual use. Currently, a total of more than 50 organizations participate in the network.

Since its establishment, the Global Partner Forum has been held every year, and this year, for the first time, a meeting will be held in Korea under the theme 'From Preparation to Response'.

About 100 officials and experts from the World Health Organization headquarters and regional offices, the International Vaccine Institute (IVI), the Gulf Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Gulf CDC), and the Coalition for Infectious Disease Innovations (CEPI) will attend this forum.

At the three-day forum, presentations and discussions will be held on the topics of regional network operation status, improvement plans based on actual cases, and future priority tasks.

In particular, we will check whether the network was operated efficiently in the field based on our experience responding to the currently prevalent Mpox and Bundibugyo Ebola virus diseases.

Lim Seung-kwan, Director of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, will participate in a high-level panel session at this forum and discuss public health crisis preparedness and response strategies with Maria Van Kerkow, Director of the World Health Organization's Crisis Management Department, and others.

Commissioner Lim said, "During the crisis response process, it is important to ensure that medical response measures are delivered to those who need them on time. Going forward, we will continue to cooperate with major organizations to organically link public health measures, medical response, vaccination, and research and development, and further strengthen the national infectious disease preparedness and response system."