MECIDS

MECIDS is a non-official organization formed by leading public health officials and experts from Israel, the Palestinian Territories, and Jordan. By building trust and mutual professional respect, MECIDS works towards peace at the socio-political level by offering a working model of effective cross-border cooperation, even during conflict.

ABOUT MECIDS

MECIDS’ mission is to promote long-term health, stability, and security in the region. MECIDS provides a framework for participating public health officials and academics to share information and data about disease patterns and to coordinate swift cross-border responses in the event of an outbreak. With its administrative secretariat in Jerusalem, MECIDS is able to connect and collaborate with a wide range of regional academic institutions, national centers for disease control, and health ministries.

In line with its mission, MECIDS organizes regular multinational training courses, collaborative research, coordination meetings, and workshops. MECIDS has previously worked to contain diseases such as H1N1, salmonella, and MERS-CoV and to successfully monitor, prevent, and respond to health risks across the region.

COVID-19 RESPONSE

MECIDS coordinated a rapid response to COVID-19. It mitigated the harmful effects of the pandemic on social cohesion and stability and is involved in ongoing conflict prevention efforts. MECIDS Board Members designed custom training on epidemiology and laboratory procedures including lectures, and seminars, focusing on:

• The use of serological tools for immunity assessment
• Sero-epidemiological studies of infection among health care workers before and after immunization
• Laboratory methods for detection

The network was able to improve individual and institutional cooperation among the Israeli, Jordanian, and Palestinian public health sectors in their emergency COVID-19 response.

For more information visit:

www.mbdsnet.org