Research and analysis

HPR volume 13 issue 32: news (16 September)

Updated 20 December 2019

PHE infectious diseases strategy 2020-2025

Following the first review of arrangements for communicable disease surveillance and control in England for more than a decade, Public Health England (PHE) launched a new five-year infectious diseases strategy at its annual conference on 10 September [1,2].

The strategy, which identifies 10 areas of priority activity on which effort and resources will be focussed over the next 5 years, was the subject of the conference’s opening plenary session - jointly presented by Professor Sharon Peacock, director of PHE’s National Infection Service, and Professor Chris Whitty, DHSC chief scientific adviser and incoming CMO for England.

Peacock told the conference that, although there had been a view, in the 1970s, that infectious diseases would eventually be eliminated as a serious public health threat in the UK, infections continue to present an ongoing threat both nationally and globally.

Strategy launch

The new strategy was needed to address the 21st century challenges of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), declining vaccination rates, pandemic flu, emerging diseases and health inequalities.

Whitty reviewed the public health successes of recent decades in the UK and abroad, describing the dramatic impact vaccines have had in protecting, for example, against meningitis, pneumococcus and rotavirus, and against many cancers. But because antibiotic resistance was now the ‘clear and present danger’ for those infections for which vaccines are not available, AMR was one of the top two priority areas covered by the strategy – the other being preparedness for future pandemics.

Peacock said: “Our mission is to prevent, detect, respond to and reduce the impact of infectious diseases in this country. Our national immunisation programme prevents around 2.75 million cases of infectious diseases a year, while serious diseases such as TB are at record lows.

“Infectious diseases are evolving, and we must continue to innovate and strengthen the science that keeps us safe – whether that’s whole genome sequencing to rapidly contain outbreaks of known infections or enhanced surveillance and preparedness for when an unknown disease strikes”.

Other key strategic priorities include the targeted use of vaccines for the prevention of hepatitis B and C and a focus on diseases – such as TB and BBVs – that are prevalent in under-served populations such as the homeless and prison populations.

The full set of PHE strategic priorities identified in the strategy are as follows:

• optimise vaccine provision and reduce vaccine-preventable diseases in England
• be a global leader in tackling antimicrobial resistance
• capitalise on emerging technologies to enhance data and infectious disease surveillance capability
• eliminate hepatitis B and C, tuberculosis and HIV and halt the rise of sexually transmitted infections
• strengthen response to major incidents and emergencies, including pandemic influenza
• build evidence to address infectious diseases linked with health inequalities
• embed WGS in PHE laboratories and optimise the use of WGS-based information
• integrate and strengthen England’s health protection system
• strengthen Global Health activities to protect health in the UK and globally
• define the value generated by delivering the Infectious Diseases Strategy

The strategy was jointly developed by three PHE directorates:

• the National Infectious Service (NIS)
• the Health Protection and Medical directorate
• the Centres and Regions directorate

Implementation plans are under development for each priority workstream.

References

1. PHE (10 September 2019). PHE Infectious Diseases Strategy 2020-2025: addressing urgent threats in the 21st century.
2. “Public Health England launches new infectious disease strategy”, GOV.UK news story, 10 September 2019.

Infection reports in this issue

This issue includes:

• Routine reports of gastrointestinal infections in humans, England and Wales: July and August 2019.

• Suspected and laboratory confirmed reported norovirus outbreaks in hospitals (England) and norovirus laboratory reports (England and Wales): weeks 31 to 35, 2019.