A specialist team of health experts has been created in the UK and will be deployed during an emergency within 48 hours if a disease outbreak strikes. The main focus on creating such a panel is to stamp out the deadly infections like Ebola before they spread in to other countries. The panel consists of scientists, academicians and clinicians who will be funded by £20 million from the government over five years.
In case of an immediate emergency, the rapid response team will assess the threats of the future disease and train its colleagues from home and abroad. Nicola Blackwood, the Public Health Minister expressed that the Ebola crisis highlighted the need for such a team. The minister added, “Ebola shook the world and brave experts from the UK led the global response in Sierra Leone. The ability to deploy emergency support to investigate and respond to disease outbreaks within 48 hours will save lives, prevent further outbreaks and cement the UK’s position as a leader in global health security.”
The project will be run by the Public Health England along with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The chief of Public Health England, Duncan Selbie said that speed is the key in tackling such infectious diseases and with the new crew’s ability specialists can be deployed anywhere in the world within 48 hours while saving and protecting lives where an outbreaks begins. This will also help to keep UK safe at home.
Professor Jimmy Whitworth at International Public Health at LSHTM and Brian McCloskey, the interim director of the Rapid support team will be leading the panel.
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