There is a wealth of research, publications and projects involving COVID-19 and the Pacific Islands coming out of the Australian National University. Please see below a consolidated list of relevant works.

COVID-19 – the Pacific response

A weekly Australia Pacific Security College (PSC) and Policy Forum initiative, tracking policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic across the Pacific Islands region. Access the first snapshot and entire series here.

COVID-19 and the Pacific

A series on DevPolicy Blog providing analysis, research and policy responses on the COVID-19 global pandemic in the Pacific region. Access the entire series here.

Master of Philosophy in Applied Epidemiology (MAE) program projects

These projects are related to building field epidemiology capacity in the Pacific with a focus on disease surveillance, outbreak response and operational research.

Viney, K., Patel, M., Housen, T., Colquhoun, S., Andrews, R., Wilson, D., Goundar, R., Durand, M., Vivili, P., Merilles, J., Rolland, O. October 2019. Pacific Evidence Informed Policies and Programs (Pac-EVIPP) program. Funded under Indo-Pacific Centre for Health Security, Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Pacific Infectious Disease Prevention (PIDP) Program.

Durrheim, DN., Flint, J., Merrit, T., Housen, T. Mather, R., Collins, C., Roper, B. October 2019. Field Epidemiology in Action (FEiA): Strengthening outbreak detection and response in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu through innovation and workforce development. Funded under the Indo-Pacific Centre for Health Security, Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, ASEAN-Pacific Infectious Disease Detection and Response (APIDDaR) Program.

Durrheim DN, Kirk M, Viney K, Ranmuhugala G, Housen T, Rosewell A. 2018. Accelerating the development of evidence-based policy and practice in Papua New Guinea (ADDEPt). Funded under the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)/ Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Indo-Pacific Centre for Health Security.

ACIAR Project: Assessment of Food System Security, Resilience and Emerging Risks in the Indo-Pacific in the context of COVID-19: Stage 2

ANU and CSIRO have partnered to co-design and undertake an integrated assessment in close collaboration with ACIAR that provides a systematic analysis of emerging food system vulnerabilities at regional and country scales and canvases options to mitigate those risks and vulnerabilities.

The assessment will inform possible actions that could be taken by governments and other food systems stakeholders to increase food systems resilience in the face of future shocks. The assessment will focus on the Pacific Island Countries (PICs), PNG, Indonesia, Timor-Leste and the Philippines, recognising that each has very different agri-food systems.

The project aims to address the following two key questions:

1. What existing food system vulnerabilities are being exposed or amplified by the COVID-19 shocks

2. How can this illustrative shock be used to inform future ‘research for development’(R4D) interventions to support food systems resilience in the Indo-Pacific.