Recently, WIV has joined Pandemic Influenza Preparedness (PIP) Framework. It is believed that this participation will push the current international cooperation level of WIV to a new high under the global context.

Pandemic influenza is a rare, unpredictable occurrence. To prepare vaccines, efficient and comprehensive sharing of relevant viruses is essential to carry out the analyses needed to determine the exact makeup of the pandemic vaccine. Equally important, the benefits derived from sharing these materials must be distributed throughout the world according to need and vulnerability to public health risks. Creating and maintaining a dynamic, equitable balance between sharing influenza viruses that have pandemic potential, and distributing the benefits that result, is the purpose of the WHO PIP Framework.

The PIP Framework was unanimously adopted by the 194 countries of the World Health Assembly on 24 May 2011. PIP establishes many responsibilities among countries, national laboratories, vaccine manufacturers, and WHO. Under the PIP Framework, stakeholders have specific responsibilities for sharing viruses and contributing to a global benefit-sharing system. For instance, Member States should support their national influenza centres and ensure that they share influenza viruses with pandemic potential with WHO. Industry responsibilities include paying annual donations to the Partnership Contribution mechanism and signing a Standard Material Transfer Agreement-2 (known as “SMTA2”).

The global reach of pandemic influenza requires a global response, and a global response requires solidarity among all countries and stakeholders. The development of a universal and equitable system for sharing influenza viruses and distributing the benefits arising from such sharing, will contribute significantly to improving the global response to pandemic influenza when it strikes.

Link: WHO PIP Framework - http://www.who.int/influenza/pip/en/