2023-05-20 21:22:39
On Saturday, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched an international surveillance network to rapidly detect threats related to new infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, and exchange information for epidemic prevention.
The World Health Organization said the International Pathogen Surveillance Network (IPSN) will provide a platform connecting countries and regions to improve sample collection and testing systems.
The network is expected to facilitate the rapid identification and tracking of infectious diseases, as well as the sharing of information and measures to be taken in order to prevent health disasters such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
The network will be based on genomics, including sequencing the genomes of viruses, bacteria and other pathogens, and studying their performance to determine the extent of their ability to transmit, its severity and the way it spreads.
The data collected will enhance a broader surveillance system aimed at identifying infectious diseases with the aim of intervention to prevent their spread, and the development of treatments and vaccines.
“Tomouh” project
The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, described the new measures as “ambitious”, stressing that they could play a “vital role in health security”.
“As clearly demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is stronger when it unites to combat common health threats,” he said.
The new network will have a secretariat within the organization’s Hub for Benematic and Epidamic Intelligence Center.
The network is launched on the eve of the World Health Assembly with the participation of WHO member countries annually in Geneva.
The network will connect experts in genetics and data analysis from the public, academic and private sectors from around the world.
“Everyone has a common goal: to detect and respond to threats posed by diseases before they become epidemics and pandemics, and to improve routine disease surveillance,” the WHO said.
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of studying virus genomes for disease control.
The World Health Organization indicated that without the rapid sequencing of the genome of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for Covid-19 disease, it would not have been possible to develop vaccines so quickly and effectively, nor to identify the most transmitted new mutants, so quickly.
The World Health Organization said that “genomics is at the heart of effective preparedness and response to epidemics,” stressing that genetic analysis of pathogens is also important for controlling many diseases, such as influenza or AIDS.
The organization pointed out that while the Covid-19 pandemic prompted countries to improve their capabilities in the field of genome sequencing, other countries still lack the means to collect and analyze samples.
The new global network must meet similar challenges “to provide all countries with access to the genome sequence of pathogens and analysis within their public health system,” according to Tedros.
#launches #global #network #detect #infectious #diseases