Formed by 52 institutions from 18 countries, a consortium to face the zika virus made its first meeting on December 4th and 5th, in São Paulo, to coordinate and plan its activities over the next three years. ZIKAlliance, which has Fiocruz as one of its institutional partners, intends to focus on three fundamental goals: a) understand the impact of zika virus infection during pregnancy and identify effects in newborns in the short and medium term; b) track and document the natural history of zika virus in humans and their environment in the context of other current arbovirus; c) provide conditions for research on the preparation for future epidemic threats in Latin America and the Caribbean in collaboration with other consortia.

During the meeting, at the University of São Paulo (USP), each institution presented and discussed its research agenda and future plans. It was assured that every effort will be made to ensure good communication between the working groups in order to enable research to advance efficiently.

The French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) coordinates the consortium, funded by Horizon 2020 program of the European Union. The initiative supplements consortia ZIKAction and ZikaPLAN, funded by the same organization in the fight against zika.

Some of the goals identified as critical to collaboration are harmonizing study protocols, data sharing, a common preparation network (REDe), governance and communication needs.

Fiotec actively participates in the meeting

Fiocruz is part of ZikAlliance with 9 different coordination areas of the various units, with the support of Fiotec. Therefore, the professionals of the Managements of Special Projects and Projects of the institution, Heloisa Setta and Ana Carolina Gomes, could meet with the management team of the leading organization of ZikAlliance consortium, the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm). During the meeting, they introduced themselves to Fiotec, explained their relationship with Fiocruz and answered questions about bylaws, internal agreements, receipt of funds, implementation and execution details and submission of financial reports.

Source: Fiocruz News Agency