Theme 3: Public Health and Social Measures

Public Health and Social Measures (PHSMs) are critical to containing an emerging disease outbreak whilst medical countermeasures are developed and put in place. However, they proved to be one of the most controversial aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic and were equally problematic in other recent emerging infection events including Ebola in West Africa and Zika in Latin America. There were very few such trials, especially controlled trials, during the COVID-19 pandemic, but they have been used in previous pandemics. The aim of this theme is to help inform evidence-based decision-making on the use of PHSMs, examining the ethics, acceptability, and feasibility of research on PHSMs, as well as enhancing preparedness for future outbreaks and safeguarding public health.

Initial Projects

• Social and ethical acceptability of next-generation digital and research approaches to PHSMs
• Understanding behaviours at sources of outbreaks (CROSS-HPRU)
• Economic evaluation of PHSMs

Theme Leads

• Prof Christl Donnelly, University of Oxford
• Prof Roberto Vivancos, UKHSA