On 31st January 2025, IPPS will host a launch event exploring the findings of the 4th 100 Days mission Implementation Report, in collaboration with the South African Government and South Africa Medical Research Council.
The report will provide a status update on global efforts to achieving the 100 Days Mission, reflecting on progress made in 2024 amid outbreaks of several diseases of pandemic potential, including the resurgence of mpox, H5N1 and Marburg virus disease.
This event will:
- Publicly launch the fourth 100DM implementation report and 2nd 100 Days Mission scorecard, sharing its key findings and areas for action in 2025;
- Demonstrate examples of African leadership across all aspects of the 100 Days Mission
- Convene partners from all sectors to discuss practical next steps for implementing proposed 2025 priorities.
The event will be hybrid and streamed via Microsoft Teams. Registration is now open for the main plenary convening twice across the day.
| Session Title | Time(s) | Registration Link |
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Main Plenary
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Register for Plenary |
Full programme
All times in South Africa Standard Time (SAST)
Click here to view speaker biographies [PDF]
09:00-09:15 – Welcome & Opening Remarks
- Professor Ntobeko Ntusi, President of South Africa MRC
- Minister Motsoaledi, Minister of Health, Government of South Africa [VIRTUAL]
- Minister Nzimande, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Government of South Africa [VIRTUAL]
- Dr Mona Nemer, Chair of IPPS & Chief Science Advisor of Canada
09:15-10:30 – Panel 1 – 100 Days Mission 4th Implementation Report Findings
- Moderated by Dr Victor Dzau, IPPS STEG Co-chair & President of the National Academy of Medicine
- Dr Rick A. Bright, Former Director of BARDA USA, IPPS STEG member
- Dr Kelly Chibale, Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Cape Town; IPPS STEG member
- Dr Ranna Eardley-Patel, Sustainable Manufacturing Lead at CEPI; IPPS STEG member
- Dr Delese Mimi Darko, Chief Executive at FDA Ghana; IPPS STEG member [VIRTUAL]
In 2024, we learnt that despite progress being made in vaccines R&D, there was a concerning lack of investment in the R&D pipeline overall and signs of waning focus on pandemic preparedness. One year on, what progress have we made?
In this panel, 100 Days Mission STEG members with expertise across diagnostics, therapeutics, vaccines, and regulations set out the main findings from the 100 Days Mission 4th Implementation Report. The session will also discuss the key trends emerging from the Scorecard and priorities for 2025, including concrete actions needed to push these elements forward.
REFRESHMENT BREAK
10:45-11:45– Panel 2 – African leadership for the 100 Days Mission: From the Political to the Practical
- Moderated by Ms Shingai Machingaidze, IPPS STEG Co-chair & Head of Africa Strategy and Engagement at CEPI
- Prof Jean-Jacques Muyembe, General Director of the National Institute of Biomedical Research [VIRTUAL]
- Dr Mosoka Fallah, Acting Director for the Science and Innovation Directorate at Africa CDC [VIRTUAL]
- Dr Miriam Nanyunja, Senior Risk Management & Preparedness Officer, WHO/EPR Nairobi Hub
- Ms Noella Bigirimana, Deputy Director General at Rwanda Biomedical Centre [VIRTUAL]
- Ms Precious Matsoso, Co-Chair of WHO’s International Negotiating Board (INB) and Director of the Health Regulatory Science Platform at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa
The 100 Days Mission is a shared goal which requires stakeholders across sectors working together in concert. So how is it being implemented across Africa? This panel will explore what this work looks like at country and regional levels, and what global systems can learn from African leadership, from the practical and political. Speakers will outline what they see as goals for 2025 and set out the challenges needing to be addressed.
11:45-12:45 – Panel 3 – Strengthening Public Private Partnerships to facilitate synergies across DTVs
- Moderated by Dr Michelle Mulder, Executive Director of the Grants, Innovation and Product Development, South Africa MRC
- Professor Mario Moreira, President of Fiocruz; IPPS Steering Group Member
- Professor Petro Terblanche, CEO at Afrigen Biologics
- Mr Bada Pharasi, CEO Innovative Pharmaceutical Association South Africa
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Dr Boitumelo Semete-Makokotlela, CEO at South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) [VIRTUAL]
There have been several cross-cutting developments in 2024 that enhance coordination and R&D progression across diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines for infectious disease management, including alignment across virus families. This progress aligns with 100DM champions’ consistent advocacy for an integrated approach to break down silos between these countermeasures. A key part of this is the public private partnerships, which this panel will explore and discuss how they can be strengthened to accelerate progress towards the 100DM.
BREAK FOR LUNCH
13:45-15:00 – Parallel Workshops – by invitation only
Workshop A: Building R&D ecosystems for PPR
- Led by Dr Mongezi Mdhuli, Chief Research Operation Officer, SAMRC and Co-Chair, GloPID-R
- Ms Glaudina Loots, Director for Health Innovation at the Department of Science and Innovation, Government of South Africa
- Dr Thomas Kariuki, Chief Executive Officer, Science for Africa Foundation [VIRTUAL]
- Professor Mario Moreira, President of Fiocruz; IPPS Steering Group Member
Rapid response to pandemics requires well capacitated, coherent and functioning R&D ecosystems capable of holistically understanding new outbreaks within a country or regional context and developing and testing novel solutions at speed. These ecosystems should include multi-disciplinary expertise and world class infrastructure that may be used between pandemics to research epidemics of concern to the region but that can rapidly pivot as needed for pandemic response. Presentations in this workshop will share examples of emerging and established ecosystems. It will then open up to discuss ways to connect these R&D ecosystems to global efforts and the ‘100 Days Mission’ and the key gaps and challenges that exist on the African continent.
Workshop B: What is needed to elevate AI & Biosecurity for the 100 Days Mission?
- Led by Dr Beth Cameron, Professor of the Practice and Senior Advisor to the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health
- Dr Lynda Stuart, Executive Director of the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington School of Medicine; IPPS STEG Member
- Dr Kelly Chibale, IPPS STEG member, Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Cape Town, South Africa
- Mr Nqobile Ndlovu CEO African Society for Laboratory Medicine
- Dr Bilal Mateen, Chief AI Officer at PATH [VIRTUAL]
The use of AI in health is rapidly maturing; from AI robot-assisted surgery to personalised healthcare plans. In 2024, Deep Mind’s AlphaFold 3, which uses AI to predict protein structures, and therefore has the potential to accelerate drug discovery and vaccine antigen design – won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. In fact, the use of AI for product development has the potential to advance and democratise end-to-end product development across all three tools.
Critically for the collective biosecurity of all countries, AI also has a key role in supporting the delivery of the 100 Days Mission. Presentations in this workshop will share how AI is already being used in practice, such as accelerating drug discovery and vaccine development. Discussion will then open up to all participants, to explore how leaders can support this work to enable AI’s full potential to protect against pandemic threats – whether they arise naturally, accidentally or through deliberate misuse.
15.15 – 16.00 – Closing Plenary: Promising advances in therapeutics development
Chairs:
- Ms Shingai Machingaidze, IPPS STEG Co-chair & Head of Africa Strategy and Engagement at CEPI
- Dr Victor Dzau, IPPS STEG Co-chair & President of the National Academy of Medicine
Speakers:
- Mr Owen Mulenga, Treatment Advocacy and Literacy Campaign (TALC) in Zambia
- Ms Lynette Keneilwe Mabote-Eyde, Public Health Consultant; former Unitaid NGO board member [VIRTUAL]
- Dr John Amuasi, Head of Global Health Department at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology [VIRTUAL]
- Dr Ruxandra Draghia-Akli, IPPS STEG member; Executive Vice President and Head of R&D at Novavax
- Dr Anban Pillay, Deputy Director General at the National Department of Health, Government of South Africa
For therapeutics, the goal of the 100 Days Mission is to have at least two ‘Phase 2 ready’ therapeutic candidates for each of the top 10 WHO priority pathogen families. But why are therapeutics so important for effective pandemic response? This closing panel will focus on the real world need for therapeutics and the promising advances being made in this space.
16.00 – 16.15 – Summary Remarks
- Dr Mona Nemer, Chair of IPPS & Chief Science Advisor of Canada
Click here to view speaker biographies [PDF]
For general enquiries about the event, contact IPPS: info@ippsecretariat.org
For media enquiries, please contact Ashley Giles, Senior Strategic Engagement Adviser: a.giles@ippsecretariat.org