Fiocruz to host Pasteur Network Annual Meeting in 2024

Fiocruz will host the next Pasteur Network Annual Meeting (PNAM), a vast scientific community with over 30 members in more than 20 countries, in which the Foundation has participated since 2009 and became an official member in 2015. The announcement was made during this year's edition, which took place in Tunis, Tunisia, between November 19 and 21, and whose main themes included infectious diseases and pandemic preparedness with a focus on the climate crisis and its effects.

In this year's edition, in addition to representatives from all members of the network, professionals from other scientific and public health institutions and organizations, civil society and philanthropic foundations also took part in the meeting.

Fiocruz's Vice President for Research and Biological Collections, Maria de Lourdes Aguiar Oliveira, attended the meeting in Tunis on behalf of Fiocruz's President Mario Moreira. Oliveira participated in a panel on how the Pasteur Network can prepare for epidemics and pandemics with an emphasis on the climate crisis and climate-sensitive infectious diseases.

Oliveira gave a presentation on the Foundation, highlighting its capabilities in research, technological development, production and innovation. "We are able to quickly respond to an emergency, we have the structure, the research and the ability to produce. Weeks after the first case of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the country, we were already producing reagents to be distributed throughout Brazil", she recalled. "Fiocruz consists of 16 technical-scientific units and offices that fulfill the institutional mission of supporting the Unified Health System. As the largest public health producer in Brazil, we do not produce for profit, but for our people. This is a very important element in avoiding inequality in the access to vaccines".

Oliveira then recalled the global supply inequalities in the COVID-19 pandemic, with poor countries having less access to diagnostic kits and vaccines. In this sense, she stressed the necessity to join forces for a sustainable and effective response.

"It is not necessary for all production stages (of vaccines, drugs and diagnostics) to be concentrated in a single institution; we can do it together, each with its own capacity. I hope that, at the end of this meeting, we can map out who is already doing what, who is working together and how we are going to put together a joint agenda", she said.

Foundation has participated in the Annual Meeting of the Pasteur Network since 2009 and became an official member in 2015 (photo: Ilka Villardo, Cris/Fiocruz)

She also highlighted Fiocruz's recent collaborations in surveillance and pandemic preparedness, such as the invitation to be part of the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence, based in Berlin, and the Hub for mRNA vaccines.

Solution sessions

The Pasteur Network annual meeting is an opportunity to strengthen relations between members of the scientific community, exchange knowledge and prospect cooperation. Thus, in addition to the presentations and round tables included in the program, the meeting also had "solutions sessions" on the network's strategic axes, such as strengthening intelligence and epidemic preparedness with a specific focus on climate sensitivity; supporting the research, development and innovation ecosystem in critical diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics; creating multidisciplinary knowledge communities; and equitable collaboration and sustainability.

Pasteur Network

The Pasteur Network is a vast scientific community. Located in endemic areas, the network has access to a large number of pathogens that it monitors and studies on the five continents where it is present. This diversity makes the Pasteur Network a global player in public health, science, innovation and education, especially in the fight against infectious diseases.