In an innovative approach for the animal health sector, a global research network aimed at tackling some of the world’s most devastating animal diseases has been launched.
Bringing together thousands of scientists from research organisations across five continents, as well as the pharmaceutical industry and international animal health bodies, the network seeks to improve co-ordination of research activities to improve the control of the major current challenges and future disease outbreaks.
The Global Strategic Alliances for the Co-ordination of Research on the Major Infectious Diseases of Animals and Zoonoses (STAR-IDAZ) is funded by the European Commission and co-ordinated by the United Kingdom’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
Read more … (BusinessWire)
STAR-IDAZ web site (under construction)
Video from the launch meeting:
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Thanks for this report. I didn’t know about this EU-led STAR-IDAZ initiative. If, as one speaker in the video says, this meeting/initiative is to “bring together global actors in animal health research” to tackle such economically important animal and zoonotic diseases as SARS, avian flu and H1N1, then I think they had better get more actors from developing countries, where many of the new zoonotic disease are emerging. From the video, it pretty much looks like a European initiative at the moment. . . .