BACKGROUND :

Despite significant scientific and technological advances, as well as ongoing collaborative efforts to prevent, detect, and respond to high-impact diseases associated with emerging infectious or antimicrobial-resistant pathogens, these diseases continue to emerge and pose threats to human and economic security. The underlying causes of their emergence include growing human populations, increasing socioeconomic development, and associated industrialized food production, urbanization, and globalization. Each of these factors in turn results in ever-increasing personal interaction, animal-human interface, and interdependence within and among communities at the local, regional, and global levels. In the context of such an inter-connected world -- with disease drivers ready to multiply and amplify the adverse impacts of emerging infectious or antimicrobial-resistant pathogens -- cross-sectoral collaboration is needed more than ever to facilitate and enhance prevention, detection, and response.

Although the first line of defense in disease prevention and control rests at the country level, pandemics respect no borders. Thus, regional and global cooperation and coordination, with increasing involvement of the private sector and communities, are essential to tackle problems from various angles. Although many multi-sectoral partnerships have to date been initiated with different mechanisms and structures, some partnerships and networks have been used in coordinated manners to manage globally concerning health crises such as the 2014 Ebola epidemic in Africa. It will be valuable to learn from such examples and understand how partners from different sectors were engaged to serve public needs. It will also be beneficial to identify obstacles to and gaps in coordinated action during joint crisis-management efforts and to explore options for improved preparedness and response in the future.