The STAMINA project aims to assist first responders and national planners in the preparedness and response phases of pandemic management, by providing improved decision-making technology to pandemic crisis management practitioners at a regional, national, and European level.
The STAMINA consortium includes a wide variety of first responders (such as national planners) as the end-users of the produced toolset. Additionally, it relies heavily on iterative collaboration with the various STAMINA solution providers.
Project partners have worked closely since the beginning of the project, in order to define the main crisis management issues arising in emergency pandemic frameworks of 12 different countries (also hosts to the trials executed throughout the project’s duration):
- Austria
- Czech Republic
- France
- Greece
- Lithuania
- Netherlands
- Romania
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Tunisia
- Turkey
- UK
Identifying gaps in emergency pandemic frameworks
Conducting a complete assessment of pandemic frameworks already existing within those countries has been crucial. Moreover, the STAMINA gap analysis has contributed to the development of this particular task.
Different approaches were combined to gain a first-hand look.
- Extensive online research on pandemic preparation, lessons learned from pandemic management procedures, as well as evaluation practices of different crisis responses.
- A detailed questionnaire filled out by end-users in the STAMINA consortium, designed to provide an understanding of the major issues in their countries and respective crisis management systems.
- Further validation of initial findings by members of the STAMINA External Advisory Board (EAB), which includes various stakeholders of distinct educational and professional backgrounds.
Using the above methodology, the following crisis management gaps were identified, giving the STAMINA project an initial indication of what needs to be addressed through its produced toolset:
- Training in pandemic preparation and response. Research revealed the absence of training and simulation-based training tools that can be used to efficiently train pandemic response managers.
- Predictive modelling. End-users want to know how fast and the different ways the disease can spread, what the implications are for different scenarios and how different measures may affect the spread of the disease.
- Early warning. It is important that information about impending problems travels quickly through the system, allowing crisis managers to quickly address them.
- A clear operational picture. National planners need updated information to make decisions, formulate a strategy and communicate with the public. All relevant information should be brought together to be easily accessible.
- Strategic information management and decision-making. Pandemic response plans create clear divisions of labour. However, it is not always clear which decisions need to be made and by whom. Operational information should be translated into information that is relevant for strategic decision-makers.
- Social media monitoring and communication. In a pandemic, the behaviour of every single individual and organization is crucial and misinformation is always a detrimental factor to the efforts of crisis managers to achieve effective crisis communication.
What’s next?
The goal of the STAMINA project is to assist at the regional, national, and international levels in the prediction and response to pandemic disease outbreaks.
The first eleven months of the project revolved around mapping the needs and requirements of those who will use the STAMINA toolset: first responders and national planners across European member states and cross-European border countries. The STAMINA gap analysis played a crucial role in this, acting as a major starting point in locating shortcomings in existing response plans, guidelines, and tools.
In the upcoming months, collaboration between end-users and solution providers will continue, showcasing how the STAMINA toolset can cover multiple of those crisis management gaps.