Ebola vaccination campaign in Mbandaka, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2018 

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This is how effective research and coordinated action can stop outbreaks spiralling into global health emergencies.

Epidemics: outsmarting deadly outbreaks | Wellcome

Epidemics: outsmarting deadly outbreaks

Featured

Covid-19 is causing wider consequences for societies, national economies and global relations. Three experts share insights on how we can better respond to the pandemic.

More than a health crisis: Covid-19 impacts are far-reaching and long-term

Infectious disease

Coronavirus (Covid-19)

Epidemics

Policy

Global health policy

From existing antivirals to new antibody therapies – researchers are working tirelessly to find the best drugs to treat Covid-19.

What treatments are working for Covid-19?

Unprecedented international cooperation and focus have led to multiple effective and safe Covid-19 vaccines in less than a year, and created a blueprint for future vaccine development.

How have Covid-19 vaccines been made quickly and safely?

We want to help the world overcome Covid-19. We’re calling for urgent international action to get lifesaving tests, treatments and vaccines from the laboratory to the front line, so they reach those most in need around the world.

Covid-19: supporting global research and development

Latest news

The Covid-19 pandemic is a social and an economic crisis just as much as it is a health one – its repercussions, severe and far-reaching, are being felt across the world.

From equality to global poverty: the Covid-19 effects on societies and economies

Recent history proves that even the deadliest viruses – like Ebola and HIV – can be made treatable, if we concentrate our efforts on research, development and access.

Four lessons from past epidemics to guide us in the search for Covid-19 treatments

Six months on from the first case of COVID-19, the pandemic is accelerating and spreading into new areas. Jeremy Farrar talks about the lessons we learned and the long-term solutions.

This virus isn’t going away. The only way to beat it is to work together

We’ve awarded £12 million, in partnership with DFID, to speed up global Covid-19 research and development and help low- and middle-income countries prepare. But more investment is needed.

Greater investment is needed to help countries with the weakest health systems prepare for Covid-19

A vaccine for Covid-19 which uses cutting-edge RNA technology has entered phase 1 clinical trials. If successful, it could revolutionise the future of vaccine development.

A new way of developing vaccines for Covid-19 could help the world to prepare for future outbreaks

The Covid-19 outbreak is not just a public health crisis, it’s rapidly becoming a global crisis – of health, economics and politics.

Global institutions must act urgently and decisively to tackle Covid-19

The commitment to research during the last two Ebola outbreaks has changed the course of this disease. Jeremy Farrar reflects on what made this possible.

This is the decade we made one of the world’s deadliest diseases preventable and curable

It's a year since the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo began. If we want to prevent future outbreaks lasting a year, the world needs to address research gaps.

How research has fundamentally changed the response to Ebola in DRC

Wellcome is working with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in a five-year initiative to help prevent future epidemics and improve the response to current ones.

How can we prevent epidemics? This initiative aims to find out

Not preparing for infectious disease outbreaks costs far more than putting the systems in place to prevent them from spreading around the globe. The human and economic imperative to invest in preparedness is beyond argument.

The cost of not preparing for infectious diseases 

If we put research at the heart of epidemic response, it’s a double win – helping fight outbreaks that are underway and protecting us in the future.