EMiL

Short Description

In recent years a great deal of progress has been made in strengthening European and international Rapid Response Capacities. In this context, Rapid Response Mobile Laboratories (RRML) are a crucial component of the response capacities, coordinated by the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Outbreak and Response Network (GOARN), and have played an important role in responding to public health threats.

The establishment of generic common standards for mobile diagnostic laboratories is an essential prerequisite for the effective operation of RRML capacities in the European and international context.

Within the GHPP “EMiL” Project, RKI is leading a working group of experts for the definition of minimal operational standards for modular box-based RRMLs, including representatives from:

• Robert Koch Institute, Berlin
• Bernhard-Nocht-Institute, Hamburg
• Bundeswehr Institute of Microbiology, Munich
• Public Health England, Salisbury
• Institute Pasteur, Paris
• Rospotrebnadzor, Saratov
• UC, Louvain, Brussels

This standardisation will be developed across the four workstreams identified in cooperation with the WHO Regional Office of Europe:

• Quality Management System (QMS)
• Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS)
• Biosafety and Biosecurity
• Operational Support and Logistics.

The defined RRML standards will be promoted during a GOARN Global meeting 2020 and will be tested during a full-scale field exercise with European and international partners in Autumn 2020.

Objectives

The GHPP “EMiL” project aims to achieve the following primary goals:

• Definition of precise minimal standards for box-based RRMLs as an example for the development of all RRML types
• Design of an audit system for RRML minimum standards as a basis for a future RRML mentoring programme
• Implementation of RRML minimal standards and testing the RRML audit system during a joint full-scale field exercise
• Establishment of links between RRMLs and other Rapid Response capacities such as Emergency Medical Teams (EMT)

The strengthening of the interdisciplinary emergency response aimed at by this project reflects the importance of the German contribution to international public health protection mechanisms.

In Cooperation with

• UK Public Health Rapid Response Team (UKPHRST), United Kingdom
• The Institut Pasteur, France
• The Russian Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor), Russia
• Centre de Technologies Moléculaires Appliquées (CTMA, UCLouvain), Belgium
• World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe (WHO/Europe), Denmark
• Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN)
• Bernhard-Nocht-Institute (BNI), Germany
• Bundeswehr Institute of Microbiology (BMI), Germany

Last update: July 2021