WHO warns of possible future outbreaks in global health

A network was launched by the WHO (World Health Organization) to prevent diseases. With the central objective of proposing improvements to sample collection systems, the International Pathogen Surveillance Network seeks to use data that contribute in some way to public policies, facilitating managers’ decisions, not to mention the much broader sharing of information. information passed between the scientific community.

Being on the eve of the WHA (World Health Assembly), which will take place until May 30th, the initiative in question ended up being announced last Saturday (20th). On Monday (22), in the middle of a speech, Tedros Adhanom, the director general of the WHO, revealed why the preparation by countries for future health emergencies is so important.

“The threat remains of the emergence of another variant that causes new outbreaks of disease and death. And the threat of another emerging pathogen with even deadlier potential remains. And pandemics are far from the only threat we face.” Adhanom commented. “In a world of overlapping and converging crises, an effective architecture for health emergency preparedness and response must address emergencies of all types.”

In order to understand the characteristics of infections, as in the case of transmission, risk to health and the symptoms themselves; genomic information from agents that generate diseases is used as a database for the new network, resulting from the analysis of the genetic code of bacteria and viruses, in addition to several other microorganisms.

Experts and scientists in the field of public health must track and identify diseases taking into account the information, according to WHO. In this way, the purpose is to respond and prevent new outbreaks, so that there is a more comprehensive surveillance system, in addition to the efficient development of vaccines and treatments.

Considering the operationalization of the network, countries will be able to respond and detect disease threats even before they cause epidemics or even other pandemics, as highlighted by the WHO.

The director-general of the WHO ends by stating that: “The goal of this new network is ambitious, but it could also play a vital role in health security: to give all countries access to pathogen sequencing and genomic analysis as part of their public health system.”

Featured photo: WHO warns of possible health outbreaks. Reproduction/Wei Liang/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images/CNN Brasil