Outbreak Response programme

In the event of an emerging or re-emerging epidemic in France or worldwide, our agency can activate a facilitation and watch procedure for a rapid response to health crises.

Last updated on 05 February 2026

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Context

While our agency plays a central supportive role in the preparedness for future infectious threats, it also plays a particular role in the French and international scientific landscapes in the event of epidemic crises: it acts as a key player, inter-institutional leader and research accelerator. We use a multimodal system with three levels of response depending on the specificities of the emergence.

Response levels

Level 1: Implementation of an enhanced scientific watch in the event of an epidemic crisis; definition of priorities for prevention research (crisis preparedness) in alignment with scientific communities, expert groups and associations; production of information for public decision-makers.
Level 2: Release of emergency funding to set up research actions within the scope of research priorities set out in Level 1. Coordination with European and international responses.
Level 3: In the event of a crisis involving enhanced coordination at the national level, implementation of specific response mechanisms with all French research players.

A decision-making algorithm for health crises

ANRS MIE has developed a decision-making algorithm whose composite score determines the alert level, ranging from 0 to 3, and the associated actions. This score is based on four weighted parameters related to the pathogen and the associated disease: the existence of effective and available medical and non–medical countermeasures; the potential for transmission and evolution; and the clinical, societal and national impact. The assessment of these parameters is refined by sub–criteria.

Outbreak Response Units

In the event of an epidemic outbreak caused by the emergence or re-emergence of a pathogen in France or elsewhere in the world, our agency activates a dedicated multi-level procedure providing a proportionate response to health crises.