23 February, 2022 – Pandemic preparedness has been a crucial issue for GPM Mayors long before the COVID-19 Pandemic. Both in the 2018 Bristol Declaration and in the 2019 Durban Declaration GPM Mayors committed to prioritising pandemic preparedness as a key component of urban health planning. They also urged national and international organizations to provide financial support and aid research on this topic. These efforts have been spearheaded by GPM Partners Rebecca Katz, director of the Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University Medical Center, and Matthew Boyce, Senior Research Associate at the same institution.
In February of 2019, they started an effort to publish a volume of case studies on various activities, models, and frameworks that were being used in cities around the world to prepare for infectious disease outbreaks and public health emergencies. Some two years later, amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this volume, Inoculating Cities: Case Studies of Urban Pandemic Preparedness was published.
It is within this context that the authors are soliciting proposals for chapters to be included in their upcoming publication, Inoculating Cities, Volume II: Case Studies of the Urban Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. This book will present a collection of case studies that highlight innovative solutions used throughout the pandemic as described by the people who designed and implemented pandemic response efforts in their cities. This book will identify successful models that can be adopted in the future by urban authorities around the world and we anticipate it will be of interest to a broad audience of individuals working in public policy, public health, and academia.
The authors are inviting city officials and authorities to submit proposals for chapters to be included in this new volume. Interested individuals may submit chapter proposals via email to Mr. Matt Boyce (Matt.Boyce@georgetown.edu). More information can be found here.