New tool indicates poor diagnostic readiness for pandemic prevention and preparedness

FIND announces the launch of the pathogen diagnostic readiness index, a tool designed to indicate diagnostic preparedness by assessing the global availability of diagnostics starting with 21 key pathogens with outbreak, epidemic and pandemic potential.

The Index, developed by FIND and OneTandem, was announced during the Global Pandemic Preparedness Summit 2024 in Rio de Janeiro, co-hosted by CEPI, Brazil’s Ministry of Health and Fiocruz.

Accurate and readily available diagnostic tools are vital for effectively detecting and responding to disease outbreaks. Yet, the tool indicates SARS-CoV-2 as the only pathogen for which there is adequate diagnostic readiness. For the 20 other pathogens of outbreak-, epidemic- and pandemic- potential, global preparedness is severely lacking, putting lives and global health security at risk.

The Pathogen Diagnostic Readiness Index assesses pathogens based on the available diagnostics suitable for use in various healthcare settings, regulatory status, and availability of the target product profile. Via these assessments, the global community, from policymakers to diagnostics developers, can make informed decisions, allocate resources and implement targeted interventions to scale up global diagnostics capacity. The pathogens included in the Index were chosen based on the priority pathogens identified in global priority pathogen lists developed by WHO, Gavi and others, and diagnostic landscapes conducted by FIND of outbreak-causing pathogens from 2018 onwards.

The tool aims to fill a critical gap in standardising metrics that assess global and regional diagnostic readiness and supports the goals of existing initiatives to fast-track diagnostic development for pandemic preparedness, including the World Health Organization’s (WHO) R&D Blueprint and the 100 Days Mission. By identifying areas where accelerated improvement and investment in preparedness is required, we can mitigate pandemic risk and safeguard health and well-being on a global scale.

“A robust pandemic response is built on widespread testing. The 100 Days Mission makes it clear that within 100 days of the identification of a pandemic threat, diagnostic tests must be made available and accessible to all,” said Dr Emmanuel Agogo, Director, Pandemic Threats, FIND. “The findings of our Index demonstrate an urgent need to accelerate investments and R&D to fill these concerning gaps in our diagnostic arsenals. If we continue at this pace and neglect diagnostics readiness, we are driving head-on to another catastrophe like COVID-19, and many lives will be lost to infectious disease outbreaks that can be detected earlier with better access to testing at all levels of the healthcare system.”

“We need robust action to fortify diagnostics readiness through advancing the development of reliable, affordable and available on-the-spot tests for viral diseases that have the potential to cause the next deadly epidemic or pandemic. These rapid tests are essential to advancing the design and testing of other vital public health countermeasures, like vaccines in support of the 100 Days Mission,” said Dr In-Kyu Yoon, Executive Director, Vaccine Research and Development (Acting), CEPI.

The Pathogen Diagnostic Readiness Index indicates a glaring lack of diagnostic preparedness and an urgent and acute need to accelerate access globally to diagnostic testing for infectious diseases. The Index supports the global community with the means to recognise critical diagnostic gaps, facilitating collective action to shore up diagnostics readiness and ensure that we are not caught unprepared in the event of another pandemic.