Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Infectious Hazards with Pandemic and Epidemic Potential: annual meeting, “New vulnerabilities”

Overview

The Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Infectious Hazards (STAG-IH), a multi-disciplinary group of external experts, was established by the WHO Director-General in 2018 to provide independent advice to WHO on infectious hazards that may pose a threat to global health security. The STAG-IH, a multi-disciplinary group of external experts, reviews information about new and emerging infectious diseases and outbreaks and advises WHO on priorities for strategies, activities and partnerships to respond to infectious hazards. The theme of the 2023 meeting was “new vulnerabilities”, in reference to a foresight exercise in 2022 to imagine the future of pandemics and epidemics, which revealed several possible drivers of future outbreaks and pandemics. This report summarizes the discussions held during the meeting, in November 2023.