Rift Valley Fever Research and Development (R&D) Roadmap

Overview

R&D roadmaps are key documents to better understand current and future health threats and identify effective health technologies to save lives.

WHO and Public Health England (PHE - now replaced by the UK Health Security Agency and Office for Health Improvement and Disparities) are co-leading the development of the R&D Blueprint Roadmap for RVF, in close collaboration with the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN (FAO), under the tripartite FAO-OIE-WHO Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) regarding cooperation to combat health risks at the animal/human ecosystems interface in the context of the “One Health Approach”.  

In May 2019, an informal meeting of core experts from the four organizations (FAO, OIE, PHE now UKHSA and WHO), with the participation of Wellcome Trust and Department for International Development (UK DIFID – now replaced by Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office), was convened at the OIE headquarters in Paris with the goal of discussing and developing a first draft of the rapid scoping of essential information (including the identification of key priorities) for RVF. A taskforce of internationally recognized subject-matter experts (SMEs), including scientists from the most affected countries, with specific expertise in RVF and in one or more R&D areas, subsequently met in November 2019 at the FAO headquarters in Roma to jointly develop a first draft Rift Valley Fever R&D Roadmap now being finalized into an advanced draft for consultation.