GISAID
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| Abbreviation | GISAID |
|---|---|
| Formation | May 2008 |
| Type | Nonprofit organization |
| Purpose | Global health, Research, Education |
| Headquarters | Munich, Germany |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
| Method | Donations and Grants |
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Key people
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Peter Bogner, President Nancy J. Cox, Co-Chair Scientific Advisory Council John McCauley, Co-Chair Scientific Advisory Council |
| Website | gisaid.org |
The GISAID Initiative is widely credited for successfully enabling the rapid sharing of influenza virus data through a unique sharing mechanism, that was recognized for its importance to global health by all G20 health ministers in 2017. The Initiative involves public–private partnerships between the nonprofit organization Freunde von GISAID e.V. and governments of the Federal Republic of Germany, the official host of the GISAID EpiFlu™ database, providing public access to the most complete collection of genetic sequence data of influenza viruses and related clinical and epidemiological data, Singapore and the United States of America. Initially spurred by the global threat posed by human infections with highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1, GISAID introduced its novel sharing mechanism in 2008 that permits free and open access to genetic sequence data, to anyone who positively identifies himself or herself, and agrees to respect the inherent rights of contributors. GISAID’s database access agreement ensures that contributors of genetic sequence data do not forfeit intellectual property rights to the data.
The idea for GISAID was first discussed in 2006 with the call for a new global initiative on sharing avian flu data by a group of leading medical researchers from around the world to improve the sharing of influenza data and was announced in a letter published in the journal Nature signed by over 70 leading scientists including seven Nobel laureates.
The Initiative has earned widespread international support around the goal of better understanding the spread and evolution of the influenza virus, its transmissibility and pathogenicity. With this goal in mind, the Initiative determined that scientists from different fields of expertise needed full access to comprehensive genetic sequencing, clinical and epidemiological data, as well as analysis from both human and animal isolates in order to better understand the virus and its potential mutation to a pandemic pathogen. The Initiative aims to provide developing countries with better access to scientific research and the development of potential pandemic flu vaccines to lessen its dependence on foreign aid. It is already hailed as a model for future initiatives.
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