Welcome to the STAMINA project newsletter, a guide to our latest work and news.
STAMINA is a H2020 project (No. 883441) developing a smart support platform that will assist pandemic crisis management practitioners at a regional, national and international level. The STAMINA toolset will be accompanied by a set of guidelines on effective implementation of risk communication principles and best practices in cross-organisational preparedness and response plans.
The STAMINA consortium unites a diverse range of experts and organisations, including decision makers, policymakers, national planners, public authorities, health care workers, regional emergency management agencies, first responders, NGOs, social scientists, (bio)informaticians, research organisations and IT experts.
Read more about the project here
End of Project Reflections
After 30 months, the STAMINA project has come to an end. In that time, the consortium has had many successes, overcome challenges that came with doing a project on pandemics during an active pandemic, and learned many lessons to carry forward. Despite the virtual nature of much of the work, our consortium of technology developers and end-users was able to work closely together to create solutions that could be driven (mostly) by end-uses.
STAMINA White Paper: Early findings from the STAMINA project in fighting the next pandemic crisis
One of the biggest challenges the STAMINA project faced was the global COVID-19 Pandemic. According to the World Health Organisation, at least 115,000 healthcare-related workers have died while assisting people through the pandemic. Decisions across EU countries were contradictory in regards to vaccine use and decision makers struggled to balance between socio-economic costs due to lockdowns and public health protection. Furthermore, the collaboration across different agencies and organisations faced serious challenges.
STAMINA White Paper: What we learned from the STAMINA project to combat the next pandemic
The STAMINA project developed an intelligent decision support toolset that assists its users, first responders and national planners, at regional, national, and international level in predicting and managing pandemic outbreaks. With a co-design approach adopted by its consortium, STAMINA developed a toolset providing added value to its users, through a holistic framework for pandemic management. To this end, an extended gap analysis was conducted to identify the critical points for improvement within the entirety of the pandemic management prism, especially mapping gaps in national legislation supporting pandemic policy measures across 11 countries. Through this, the STAMINA project succeeded in not only identifying gaps in national legislations but also in highlighting the fields for improvement that need to be regarded at a higher level.
Guidelines on risk communication principles implementation
In September 2021, STAMINA partners published a report, Guidelines on risk communication principles implementation. This document is a key piece for partners, stakeholders and interested organisations to know the state of the art of communication in pandemic situations. The purpose is to review the possible gaps in risk communication with the public and between organisations that are unique to pandemics, explore various media and practices for risk communication, and propose a series of guidelines to improve the implementation of this type of communication.
Policy Brief: Sharing Health Data for Pandemic-Preparedness and Response
This policy brief considers the legal framework designed to support data sharing exchanges. Health data sharing is crucial in pandemic preparedness and response, and in particular the research that underpins such efforts. It is a building block for public health insight and action, a way to empower interoperability, and to build trust between agencies. The brief argues that data-sharing technology, standards, and policy neither produce nor guarantee the organisational trust, resources, or cooperation necessary to share data.
Policy Brief: Supporting Strategic Decision-Makers with Predictive Modelling during Pandemics
This policy brief makes recommendations geared towards improving pandemic decision-makers understanding of predictive modelling. Strategic decision-making during pandemics requires government decision-makers to quickly understand large amounts of important information. This includes information that can support policy and response related to: the movement of the pandemic over time and space; its effect on sub-populations such as the elderly or healthcare workers; its effect on national infrastructure, such as hospitals or transportation; and the pathogen’s resistance to medicine and interactions with other pathogens (e.g., COVID-19 and flu).
Policy Brief: Improving Public Trust in Government and Public Authorities Communications During Pandemic
This policy brief considers multidisciplinary coordination in pandemic governance at the EU level. Crisis communication during pandemics is essential to ensure that the public remains informed and engaged, makes informed decisions that mitigate their risk, as well as understands and follows measures put in place to control the spread of infectious diseases. Communication is a particularly important pillar of public health strategy, as widespread compliance with preventative measures hinges upon public trust in authorities, their messages, and their communities. Effective risk communication can help increase public trust, reduce uncertainty, and promote cooperation between stakeholders.
PREPARE Cluster news
Thirteen EU-funded H2020 projects have united to form the PREparedness and resPonse for emergency situAtions in euRopE (PREPARE) cluster. Together CO-VERSATILE, COVID-X, COVINFORM, EUR3KA, LINKS, NO FEAR, PANDEM-, PERISCOPE, PHIRI, PathoCERT, RiskPACC, STAMINA and STRATEGY will explore synergies, research opportunities and deliver joint activities to maximise impact.
COVINFORM: “Bridging the gap”- The importance of interpersonal risk and crisis communication
In the autumn of 2021, the Swedish COVID-19 vaccination roll-out was in full progress and vaccines had become available for all Swedish adults. Although there was a sufficient vaccine supply, it became increasingly evident that the vaccination rates were significantly lower among populations of foreign-born individuals living in areas with socio-economic challenges. The so-called vaccination guide project was launched in the city of Gothenburg – a network-based risk and crisis communication initiative, aiming to increase vaccination rates in ethnic minority communities.
SAVE THE DATE! NO-FEAR Final Conference, 3 – 4 May 2023
NO-FEAR will be hosting its Final Conference in Brussels on the 3-4th May 2023. Stay tuned for more details on an event which will be of great interest to practitioners and partners across the world of emergency medicine.
PERISCOPE is on CORDIS – „Sweden in the pandemic spotlight”
The European Commission’s main repository and public portal, CORDIS (Community Research and Development Information Service) has recently published a news article shedding light on the important work carried out by the PERISCOPE project.
Titled „Sweden in the pandemic spotlight„, the article centers around a Swedish case study that highlights the need for a better connection between humans, animals and the environment in pandemic management.
For more information on the STAMINA project please visit our website:
Email: info@stamina-project.eu
