INITIATE²

In June 2021, the World Food Programme (WFP) and WHO launched INITIATE², a 5-year initiative which brings together emergency response actors, as well as research and academic institutions, to develop innovative and standardized solutions and the related training in support of readiness and response capabilities in health emergencies.

These solutions will include medical facilities, temporary medical installations, laboratory and disease-specific facilities and other innovative products to support readiness and response capabilities in health emergencies involving infectious diseases.

INITIATE² is co-managed by WFP and WHO and hosted by the United Nations Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD) in Brindisi. The latter has been serving as a logistics and simulation hub for WFP and its partners, and which has been developing and testing innovative emergency response products in its laboratories over the past years.

INITIATE² - Designing the future of pandemic emergency response

INITIATE² is based on two interconnected workstreams: technical innovation, for the design and development of standardized technical solutions; and training and simulation, for the development of standardized procedures and response capacity.

As the convenors of the initiative, WFP and WHO have developed the project governance structures, methodologies and the project plan and engaged key partners.

Virtual and in-person sessions were organized to determine partner engagement and assess the first solution to be prioritized, which will be an infectious disease treatment centre.

The relevance of an infectious disease treatment centre

Epidemics of infectious diseases are occurring more often and spreading faster and farther than ever in many different regions of the world. The background factors of this threat are biological, environmental and lifestyle changes, among others. A potentially fatal combination of newly discovered diseases, and the re-emergence of many long-established ones, demands urgent responses in all countries. Planning and preparation for epidemic prevention and control are essential.

The design of infectious diseases treatment centres for health emergency response improved considerably in the last few years. Centres evolved from pure isolation units to patient-focused treatment centres designed to enhance quality of medical care,IInfection Prevention and Control (IPC), patient comfort and community acceptance. However, the construction of such a centre may require several weeks and the first phases of an emergency are still handled with simple infrastructure, which does not allow for the provision of the most advanced level of medical care available.

INITIATE² will look at how to provide the most advanced level of medical care available at the outset of an outbreak of an infectious disease by:

providing a rapid deployable, easily transportable, extendable, self-contained and self-sufficient treatment centre for infectious diseases that can be used as a standalone solution, but which can also integrate sustainably into on-site health services;
reducing the time needed to open an infectious disease treatment centre in order to enhance the first containment phase and reduce possible outbreaks spreading; and
ensuring standardization across emergency actors in order to offer to patients the same quality of care, comfort and IPC standards.

Progress update

Currently, a small group of partners – the core solution team – is working to determine the ideal design for the treatment centre, visualizing the journey of different users to and through the treatment facility, detailing requirements and challenges.

The team determined the key drivers that will guide the development of the INITIATE² solution, which include humanized care, rapid deployment, environmental sustainability and inclusiveness.

The adoption of a human-centred design approach allowed partners to visualize a solution that will allow for provision of care regardless of patient risk and severity status and that will enable usability regardless of context and users.

This work has been captured in a design brief which will provide an outline for the technical specifications that will be later shared with suppliers for the design and construction of a first prototype of the treatment centre.

To finalise the design, a mock-up exercise was conducted in collaboration with the University of Tübingen. The exercise assessed space configuration according to clinical activities, patient’s position visibility features and provided measurable indicators for contact and accessibility. The manual for the setup of the INITIATE treatment module mock up is available for all interested partners along with a short video that provides additional visual guidance on how to build the structure and some insights on the actual exercise.

Julian Civiero

INITIATE² is made possible by the engagement of:

Alima, Bring Hope Foundation, Doctors with Africa (CUAMM), Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations at the European Commission (DG ECHO), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland of Switzerland (FDFA), GOAL, ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), IFRC (International Federation of the Red Cross) represented by the Norwegian Red Cross), International Rescue Committee (IRC), International Organization for Migration (IOM), Medair, Medical Aid Films, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Save the Children (SCI), Samaritan’s Purse, UNICEF, USAID, World Vision International (WVI), World Food Programme (WFP), and World Health Organization (WHO).