In February 2026, the Pneumonia and Pandemic Preparedness program strategy team at the Gates Foundation (GF) continued its engagement with the START team to build on the global review of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) serotype distribution, an effort underway since 2017. The START team continued to collect and incorporate new IPD serotype data from peer-reviewed published literature, conference abstracts, and national surveillance data, further refining the underlying database and the accompanying public-facing dashboard, the Global Pneumococcal Serotype Interactive Dashboard (GPSID). This phase tracked IPD serotype epidemiology using more than 250,000 isolates spanning 90 countries, informing the potential next generation of pneumococcal vaccines.
This phase also included an update to the GPSID’s user interface and design, improving usability and visual presentation across both desktop and mobile devices to better serve the tool's growing base of stakeholders. As part of this phase, the START team also presented project findings at the International Society of Pneumonia and Pneumococcal Diseases (ISPPD) 2026 in Copenhagen [hyperlink to news link], sharing the dashboard and analyses with the broader pneumococcal disease research community. The updated GPSID dashboard remains publicly available at startcenter.shinyapps.io/ipd_app, supporting public health professionals, researchers, policymakers, and other stakeholders in exploring global IPD burden, trends, and vaccine coverage to inform decision-making for vaccine introduction and disease control strategies worldwide.
