AIR Worldwide has made two new business moves involving ways to manage and counter global pandemics.

The catastrophe modeling firm said it has expanded its global pandemic model to include outbreaks of six additional diseases. Separately, it plans to team with the World Bank on a new initiative designed to help protect the world against deadly pandemics.

AIR’s global pandemic model has previously included influenza, coronaviruses (SARS and MERS), and filoviruses (Ebola and Marburg). Now, the updated model includes the addition of two pathogens from the Bunyaviridae viral family [Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV)], Lassa (hemorrhagic) fever (LHF) from the Arenaviridae viral family, and bacterial-pathogens-associated cholera (Vibrio cholera), plague (Yersinia pestis), and meningococcal meningitis (Neisseria meningitidis).

AIR explained that the simulated outbreaks in its model could originate anywhere, and that the model addresses the inpact of those viruses in 24,000 municipalities globally.

In a related move, AIR is collaborating with the World Bank on the expected launch of the Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility, a global financing mechanism designed to help protect the world against deadly pandemics. The facility includes an insurance window, which combines reinsurance and/or insurance-linked securities funding, plus a complementary cash window. The Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility is designed to release funds quickly to countries and qualified international responding agencies in the event of an outbreak. Analytics and modeling will be part of the risk transfer program.

AIR Worldwide is a Verisk Analytics business.

Source: AIR Worldwide