{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,24]],"date-time":"2026-02-24T10:00:44Z","timestamp":1771927244402,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":19,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,1]],"date-time":"2026-02-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1769904000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100004423","name":"World Health Organization","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100004423","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Viruses"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The rapid onset and progression of the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the critical necessity for standardized, timely epidemiological investigations to generate actionable evidence for public health policy. The World Health Organization (WHO) Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS) and Unity Studies and Investigations initiative (Unity Studies) provides the standardized framework to address these critical knowledge gaps. This manuscript reflects upon the Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (HIMSR)\u2019s experience as an active site implementing three WHO Unity protocols between 2020 and 2021. We synthesize key findings from the Household Transmission Investigation (HHTI) and the Health Facility Transmission (HCW cohort) studies, detail the operational and analytical complexities addressed through intensive collaboration with WHO HQ, South-East Asia Regional Office (SEARO), and WHO India, and outline the subsequent institutional capacity transmission. Building directly on this established expertise, HIMSR has been designated as the dedicated Nodal network site for the WHO SEAR Unity Studies Network in India, coordinating administration activities of a vast network of national institutes for ongoing pandemic preparedness. This trajectory demonstrates the potential for low- and middle-income country (LMIC) institutions not only to contribute critical evidence during crises but also to transition into resilient national and regional research and surveillance platforms for future pan-respiratory pathogen threats. We detail the essential findings and operational lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic response and elaborate extensively on the strategic implementation plan for the proposed WHO Unity Nodal Network site in India, emphasizing capacity building, standardization, and the integration of research into public health policy.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/v18020198","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,2]],"date-time":"2026-02-02T12:00:47Z","timestamp":1770033647000},"page":"198","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Building Local Research Capacity for Global Pandemic Preparedness: Lessons from WHO Unity Studies and Their Expansion in India"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8601-4440","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yasir","family":"Alvi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Community Medicine, Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, New Delhi 110062, India"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0461-9372","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Farzana","family":"Islam","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Community Medicine, Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, New Delhi 110062, India"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mohammad","family":"Ahmad","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"World Health Organization (WHO), New Delhi 110062, India"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5543-8398","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Richa","family":"Gautam","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Community Medicine, Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, New Delhi 110062, India"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1236-1458","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Aqsa","family":"Shaikh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Community Medicine, Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, New Delhi 110062, India"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Musharraf","family":"Husain","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgery, Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, New Delhi 110062, India"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Kartikey","family":"Yadav","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Community Medicine, Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, New Delhi 110062, India"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-8590-5435","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mohammad","family":"Rashid","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Community Medicine, Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, New Delhi 110062, India"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Shyambhavee","family":"Behera","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Community Medicine, Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, New Delhi 110062, India"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Nicki L.","family":"Boddington","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"WHO Health Emergencies Programme, World Health Organization, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ashok","family":"Basnet","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"WHO Health Emergencies Programme, South-East Asia Regional Office, New Delhi 110002, India"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Pushpa Ranjan","family":"Wijesinghe","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"WHO Health Emergencies Programme, South-East Asia Regional Office, New Delhi 110002, India"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"22","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijregi.2023.02.005","article-title":"Household transmission dynamics of COVID-19 among residents of Delhi, India: A prospective case-ascertained study","volume":"7","author":"Islam","year":"2023","journal-title":"IJID Reg."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e13256","DOI":"10.1111\/irv.13256","article-title":"WHO\u2019s Investigations and Studies, Unity Studies: A global initiative creating equitable opportunities for enhanced surveillance, operational research, capacity building, and global knowledge sharing","volume":"18","author":"Bergeri","year":"2024","journal-title":"Influenza Other Respi. Viruses"},{"key":"ref_3","unstructured":"WHO (2025, October 11). Household Transmission Investigation Protocol for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) (Version: 2.2), Available online: https:\/\/iris.who.int\/server\/api\/core\/bitstreams\/481af62d-bb64-40fa-b836-09bfc41500de\/content."},{"key":"ref_4","unstructured":"WHO (2025, October 11). Protocol for Assessment of Potential Risk Factors for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Among Health Workers in a Health Care Setting (Version: 2.2), Available online: https:\/\/www.who.int\/publications\/i\/item\/protocol-for-assessment-of-potential-risk-factors-for-2019-novel-coronavirus-(2019-ncov)-infection-among-health-care-workers-in-a-health-care-setting."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7","DOI":"10.1111\/irv.12915","article-title":"Early epidemiological investigations: World Health Organization Unity protocols provide a standardized and timely international investigation framework during the COVID-19 pandemic","volume":"16","author":"Bergeri","year":"2022","journal-title":"Influenza Other Respi. Viruses"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e13165","DOI":"10.1111\/irv.13165","article-title":"Household transmission investigation: Design, reporting and critical appraisal","volume":"17","author":"Price","year":"2023","journal-title":"Influenza Other Respi. Viruses"},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Dudeja, M., Shaikh, A., Islam, F., Alvi, Y., Ahmad, M., Kashyap, V., Singh, V., Rahman, A., Panda, M., and Shree, N. (2023). Assessment of Potential Risk Factors for COVID-19 among Health Care Workers in a Health Care Setting in Delhi, India\u2014A Cohort Study. PLoS ONE, 18.","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0265290"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"102603","DOI":"10.1016\/j.pmedr.2024.102603","article-title":"SARS-CoV-2 infection and seropositivity among household contacts of laboratory confirmed cases of COVID-19 in residents of Delhi, India","volume":"38","author":"Das","year":"2024","journal-title":"Prev. Med. Rep."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"693","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijid.2022.07.033","article-title":"Effectiveness of BBV152\/Covaxin and AZD1222\/Covishield vaccines against severe COVID-19 and B. 1.617. 2\/Delta variant in India, 2021: A multi-centric hospital-based case-control study","volume":"122","author":"Bhatnagar","year":"2022","journal-title":"Int. J. Infect. Dis."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"803","DOI":"10.1111\/irv.13002","article-title":"Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in standardised First Few X cases and household transmission investigations: A systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"16","author":"Lewis","year":"2022","journal-title":"Influenza Other Respir. Viruses"},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"728","DOI":"10.12688\/f1000research.110298.1","article-title":"A hospital-based prospective cohort study to assess the factors associated with transmission dynamics of SARS CoV-2 among healthcare workers in Delhi","volume":"11","author":"Dudeja","year":"2022","journal-title":"F1000Research"},{"key":"ref_12","unstructured":"WHO (2025, October 20). Strengthening Pandemic Preparedness Through Unity Studies: Real-World Applications from India in WHO\u2019s South-East Asia Region. 14 October 2025 Departmental Update New Delhi, India, Available online: https:\/\/www.who.int\/southeastasia\/news\/detail\/14-10-2025-strgthng-pandemic-Unity-studies."},{"key":"ref_13","unstructured":"WHO (2025, October 16). Seventy-Eighth World Health Assembly Agenda Item 16.2: WHO Pandemic Agreement, Available online: https:\/\/apps.who.int\/gb\/ebwha\/pdf_files\/WHA78\/A78_R1-en.pdf."},{"key":"ref_14","unstructured":"WHO (2025, October 02). 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(2025, September 02). Household Transmission Investigation (HHTI) & Associated Risk Factors for Influenza A, Influenza B and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Infection Amongst Residents of Delhi, India. Available online: https:\/\/zenodo.org\/records\/17446050."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Dutta, A., and Jinsart, W. (2022). Air pollution in Delhi, India: It\u2019s status and association with respiratory diseases. PLoS ONE, 17.","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0274444"},{"key":"ref_19","unstructured":"WHO (2025, September 02). Terms of Reference for Unity Studies Network Sites in the WHO SEARO Region (September 2024), Available online: https:\/\/cdn.who.int\/media\/docs\/default-source\/documents\/epp\/respiratory-unity-study\/tor_unity-studies-2.0-network-sites_sept-2024ea2f2186-44a2-4354-bdbc-c25e72b376b4.pdf?sfvrsn=b4c7963b_3."}],"container-title":["Viruses"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1999-4915\/18\/2\/198\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,24]],"date-time":"2026-02-24T09:07:05Z","timestamp":1771924025000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1999-4915\/18\/2\/198"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,1]]},"references-count":19,"journal-issue":{"issue":"2","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,2]]}},"alternative-id":["v18020198"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/v18020198","relation":{},"ISSN":["1999-4915"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1999-4915","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,1]]}}}