SCREMM-BIO: Surge Capacity and REsilience for Military Medicine in BIO-warfare

The SCREMM-BIO project aims to strengthen Belgium’s military resilience by enhancing the country’s capacity to respond to biological threats against military personnel through a strong civil-military medical cooperation. 

The impact for Belgian Defence is twofold: first, it delivers an evidence-based model for medical care of military personnel affected by biological attacks using UAntwerp and UZA expertise (Model 1); second, it develops an extension prototype for the Role 2 Medical Treatment Facility to enable safe deployment in biologically impacted conflict zones (Model 2). Virtual outbreak simulations will evaluate timelines of detection, response, and containment of B-incident, while financial analysis will assess the feasibility of expanding HLIU capacity. 

This combined approach strengthens response efficiency, supports sustainable surge capacity, and informs strategic civilian-military decision-making for biothreat preparedness. Broader scientific insights will guide future innovative countermeasure development, and can be shared with other NATO partners through a final script, adaptable into a generic model for broader use. The project lays the foundation for long-term collaboration and enhanced national and international preparedness.

To meet its ambitious goals, the project is divided into eight work packages (WP), each addressing a critical component required to deliver effective scenarios for surge capacity. WP1 focuses on assessing overall needs and developing a methodology to scale up medical care in response to large-scale bio-attacks in military settings. WP2 involves the adaptation and testing of containment infrastructure, while WP3 concentrates on modelling and evaluating the economic aspects of infrastructure, staffing, and operational costs. WP4 is dedicated to developing and validating staff surge capacity models along with corresponding training packages. WP5 enhances outbreak research preparedness specific to biological attacks. WP6 ensures effective coordination, project management, and reporting. WP7 is responsible for data management, and WP8 handles the valorisation, dissemination, and exploitation of project results. The 36-month methodology integrates literature review, feasibility studies, operational assessments, mathematical modelling and scenario simulations to produce actionable implementation scenarios. All components will be synthesized in a final, exhaustive full-scale exercise, resulting in two thoroughly evaluated models and corresponding operational scripts.