- ICER engages with Governments of epidemic prone countries and other funding agencies to contribute to a pool of an epidemics research fund. Through a transparent peer reviewed call for proposal ICER will fund research institutions, groups to conduct epidemics research.
- Creation of a network of networks to develop epidemics research capacity in epidemic prone countries by offering non degree research training, higher degrees and fellowships and facilitate creation of epidemics research groups and centers in epidemic prone countries
- Coordinate efforts for sharing epidemics research evidence and funding opportunities.
- Develop a framework for strategic partnerships with Government institutions, academia, and private sector entities in Uganda.
- Engage with social scientists to complement the proposed clinical research before and during outbreaks. This will provide an entry for community participation especially for trials for therapeutic interventions.
- Initiate a rapid assessment of institutional capacities for pathogen detection and characterization.
- Determine national-level capacities for genomic surveillance to establish disease trajectories with respect to sources and sinks, and the emergence of variants.
- Explore institutional collaboration with entities in the public and private sectors in the East African sub-region. This may be achieved through linkages with the Africa CDC Regional Collaborating Centers (RCCs) and its network of quality assured laboratories within the Regional Integrated Surveillance and Laboratory Networks (RISLNET).
- Conduct timely epidemiological and clinical research while ensuring timely lab/field-to-bedside implementation of the recommendations for (re-)emerging and epidemic-prone infectious diseases.
- Assess active disease surveillance capabilities within national institutions.
- Review available countermeasures and prioritize interventions for clinical assessment for safety and efficacy.
- Develop platforms for dissemination of scientific findings on epidemics to policymakers and the general public during emergency disease outbreaks that utilize professional networks, social networks, and public access mechanisms.
- Establish a comprehensive training program and framework focused on strengthening the conduct of adaptive clinical trials for evidence-based health innovation, intervention, and policy for epidemic and pandemic response.
- Develop a framework for fast-tracking development, approval, and implementation of research protocols on epidemics.
- Mobilize support and resources towards national epidemics priority research areas from local and international partners/collaborators, and coordinate funding proposal submissions on epidemics research from consortium members.
- Develop and implement a framework for the collection of critical data along with security protocols, and institute a centralized database with stratified access by collaborating institutions.
- Develop information packages to inform communities about the necessity for research to provide evidence for outbreak mitigation.
- Implement appropriate social sciences research to inform appropriate sociocultural sensitive engagements with communities.
- Strengthen supply chains and logistics to optimize research activities.
- Sensitize ethics review committees and regulators to the importance of expedited protocol review. This may be achieved by extending an invitation to serve as members of ICER to the concerned.
- Seek and implement community engagement and response before and during the initiation of research activities.
- Collect samples to support future target identification for new therapeutics, vaccines, and diagnostics.
- Implement ongoing bio-specimen repositories with well curated information to promote and enable future use of data.
