WHAT IS PREDICT?
PREDICT/Sierra Leone team sampling in the field (© Simon Townsley)
PREDICT enabled global surveillance for pathogens that can spillover from animal hosts to people by building capacities to detect and discover viruses of pandemic potential. The project is part of USAID’s Emerging Pandemic Threats program and was led by the UC Davis One Health Institute.
PREDICT was initiated in 2009 to strengthen global capacity for detection and discovery of viruses with pandemic potential that can move between animals and people. Those include coronaviruses, the family to which SARS and MERS belong; paramyxoviruses, like Nipah virus; influenza viruses; and filoviruses, like the ebolavirus.
Working with partners in over 30 countries, the project investigated the behaviors, practices and ecological and biological factors driving disease emergence, transmission, and spread using the One Health approach.
Through these efforts, PREDICT has improved global disease recognition and has developed strategies and policy recommendations to minimize pandemic risk.