Resolve to Save Lives

New Interactive Playbook Provides Critical Tool for World’s Public Health Decision-makers to Manage and Adapt COVID-19 Responses

Prevent Epidemics April 24, 2020

Online tool synthesizes guidance documents and best practices from WHO, US CDC, and Africa CDC and links them to where countries are in the disease curve

The Prevent Epidemics Team at Resolve to Save Lives announced today the launch of their new interactive COVID-19 Playbook, a resource to help public health policymakers and other decision-makers around the world manage and adapt their countries’ COVID-19 responses as they move through different phases of the disease curve—from response to recovery.

“The World Health Organization, US CDC and Africa CDC are producing important and useful guidance,” said Dr. Tom Frieden, former CDC Director and President and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, an initiative of the global health organization Vital Strategies. “Our team has created a tool that brings these recommendations and best practices together and helps countries apply them at different phases as the pandemic spreads. It’s meant to complement these efforts as a one-stop entry point and provides links to guidance developed by expert organizations including the WHO. The playbook also has an essential checklist which is a great resource for any country and any state or province to determine if they are doing what they need to do to protect their people.”

The tool features a user guide, glossary, COVID-19 response essential checklist, and an interactive adaptive response graphic that links to key principles and high-yield tools tailored to different phases of the disease curve. The tools and principles are organized into the following categories:

  • Coordinated response
  • Box the virus in (disease control)
  • Case management
  • Physical distancing
  • Essential health services
  • Essential societal services

The Prevent Epidemics team’s technical experts will update the Playbook regularly as new guidance on COVID-19 is released and new examples of successful implementation are documented.

“The COVID-19 Playbook will serve as a living, dynamic document,” said Dr. Cyrus Shahpar, Director of the Prevent Epidemics Team. “Countries are tracking the transmission of disease closely. Based on disease trends and healthcare system capacity, they will now be able to tell where they are on the disease curve and look to appropriate guidance. We can also help them identify useful metrics to better understand where they are in the course of the pandemic.”

The Resolve to Save Lives team at Vital Strategies is working directly with countries to support their COVID-19 response, including supporting health care workers with infection prevention and control, providing rapid response funds to allow countries to quickly mobilize funds for critical activities, conducting polling on what intervention measures are acceptable where, and more. PreventEpidemics.org where the COVID-19 Playbook is hosted, is the world’s first website to provide clear and concise country-level data on epidemic preparedness and the ability to find, stop, and prevent epidemics.

Media Contacts:

Christina Honeysett, Vital Strategies: choneysett@vitalstrategies.org; +1.914.424.3356

Erin Sykes, Resolve to Save Lives: esykes@resolvetosavelives.org; +1.646.612.0001

About Resolve to Save Lives

Resolve to Save Lives is a five-year, $225 million initiative funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Gates Philanthropy Partners, which is funded with support from the Chan Zuckerberg Foundation. Resolve received additional funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies for the COVID-19 response. It is led by Dr. Tom Frieden, former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and is part of the global organization Vital Strategies. To find out more visit: https://www.resolvetosavelives.org or Twitter @ResolveTSL

Resolve to Save Lives created a website called PreventEpidemics.org that shows how prepared each country is for an epidemic, including COVID-19, and how many flights are coming and going from infected countries. This site is also a resource for current coronavirus statistics and resources.

About Vital Strategies

Vital Strategies is a global health organization that believes every person should be protected by a strong public health system. We work with governments and civil society in 73 countries to design and implement evidence-based strategies that tackle their most pressing public health problems. Our goal is to see governments adopt promising interventions at scale as rapidly as possible. To find out more, please visit www.vitalstrategies.org or Twitter @VitalStrat.

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