Partnerships, Not Parachutists, for Zika Research.

Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), she called for increased research into their cause, including the question of whether the Zika virus is the source of the problem.1 The declaration provides an opportunity to step up the pace of research in order to find the answer to some important questions more quickly. It could not only facilitate the accumulation of knowledge about the relationship between the Zika virus and microcephaly, but also accelerate the study of newer technologies for mosquito control, which could have far-reaching effects on global health security beyond controlling Zika infections. But to answer these research questions effectively and maximize their contribution to enhancing health security, we believe it is critical that research be conducted collaboratively. Building and strengthening public health capacities (in part through collaborative research) are central to the International Health Regulations, an international agreement of all WHO member countries designed to strengthen health security. Yet collaborative research is not a given. Collaborative clinical and vaccine research during the recent Ebola epidemic helped some West African researchers hone their skills and bring them up to global standards for good practice. And many of the laboratories and other installations provided by donor countries during the Ebola outbreak remain in place and are becoming a focus for development aid targeted at improving public health. But in general, collaboration during that crisis was suboptimal; in too many cases, West Africa became a playground for researchers allegedly appropriating and transporting specimens and data to their home laboratories, sometimes without the knowledge or permission of the countries in which they were collected.2 An initiative to create a coordinated network of biobanks and datasharing platforms for Ebola and other emerging pathogens has been launched by Médecins sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders), but it remains to be seen whether it will be accepted by the research community and contribute to increased sharing of data and specimens. Research during other recent outbreaks and emergencies has also been fraught with failures to collaborate. Consider the current outbreaks of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). The coronavirus that causes MERS was identified nearly 3 years ago, and scientists have suggested transPartnerships, Not Parachutists, for Zika Research