In September 2023, the arrival of the Post-COVID Research and Expertise Network was announced. For this purpose, 32 million euros were made available by then Minister Kuijpers of Health, Welfare and Sport. Of this, 9 million was made available in a first subsidy round for the establishment and strengthening of the research infrastructure and for the transfer of knowledge to professionals and patients.
C-support has been intensively involved in the plans for a post-COVID expertise network for some time now. We have brought this topic to the attention at various levels and in various committees. Our medical advisors Alfons Olde Loohuis and Sara Biere-Rafi have also contributed ideas about what is needed to create an expertise network. In addition, the knowledge bundling post-COVID and the knowledge agenda biomedical research post-COVID prepared, to which Sara Biere-Rafi made an important contribution. All these preparations form the basis for the grant award. As an expert in the field of post-COVID, we believe it is important to also be involved in the further development of the expertise network and thus contribute to the diagnosis, treatment and recognition of post-COVID. That is why C-support also registered for various components within the call and also helped shape the grant proposal.
ZonMw has now announced that the subsidy for 9,1 million for the Research and Expertise Network Post-COVID has been approved. We will give substance to this under the name 'Post-COVID Network Netherlands'.
Participation C-support
The 9,1 million euros awarded will be divided among eleven projects. These eleven projects are divided into seven Work Packages and four Platforms. The Work Packages aim to set up an infrastructure for research, for example for clinical research, Biobank or care pathways. The four Platforms focus in particular on patient participation, quality assurance and knowledge sharing. All these projects have a duration of three years.
C-support is, together with PostCovid NL and the IVM (Institute for Responsible Use of Medicines), the driving force behind Platform 4. This platform focuses on knowledge sharing; on the one hand, knowledge sharing of the information that becomes available from the Post-COVID Network Netherlands, but also sharing of knowledge that is available nationally and internationally or is yet to become available.
In addition, C-support participates in Work Package 2 (Cohort and real world data), Work Package 7 (development and implementation of post-COVID care pathways), in Platform 3 (Ethical aspects of post-COVID care and research) and in the management team of the Post-COVID Network Netherlands.
Happy with this development
We are pleased to be able to participate in this network in the coming years and to continue to share our knowledge in the field of post-COVID. Together with others, we expect to be able to make a valuable contribution to the knowledge gathering and knowledge sharing about post-COVID.
