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  • WHO’s new global network to detect, prevent infectious disease threat

    WHO’s new global network to detect, prevent infectious disease threat

    GENEVA: The World Health Organization (WHO) on Saturday announced a new global network that will help detect and respond to disease threats before they become epidemic or pandemic, and to optimise routine disease surveillance.

    The International Pathogen Surveillance Network (IPSN) will provide a platform to connect countries and regions, and improving systems for collecting and analysing samples using these data to drive public health decision-making, and share that information more broadly.

    Pathogen genomics analyses the genetic code of viruses, bacteria and other disease-causing organisms to understand how infectious they are, how deadly they are, and how they spread. With this information, scientists and public health officials can identify and track diseases to prevent and respond to outbreaks as part of a broader disease surveillance system, and to develop vaccines.

    “The goal of this new network is ambitious, but it can also play a vital role in health security: To give every country access to pathogen genomic sequencing and analytics as part of its public health system,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement. “As was so clearly demonstrated to us during the Covid-19 pandemic, the world is stronger when it stands together to fight shared health threats,” he added.

    The Covid pandemic highlighted the critical role pathogen genomics plays in responding to pandemic threats. Without the rapid sequencing of the SARS-CoV-2 genome, vaccines would not have been as effective, or have been made available so quickly.

    New, more transmissible variants of the virus would not have been as quickly identified. Genomics lies at the heart of effective epidemic and pandemic preparedness and response, as well as part of the ongoing surveillance of a vast range of diseases, from foodborne diseases and influenza to tuberculosis and HIV.

    Its use in monitoring the spread of HIV drug resistance for example, has led to antiretroviral regimes that have saved countless lives. Despite recent scale-up in genomics capacity in countries as a result of the Covid pandemic, many still lack effective systems for collecting and analysing samples or using those data to drive public health decision-making. The IPSN will tackle these challenges through a global network, connecting geographies and disease-specific networks, to build a collaborative system to better detect, prevent and respond to disease threats.

    -IANS

  • WHO Europe urges vigilance over mpox

    WHO Europe urges vigilance over mpox

    COPENHAGEN: The WHO Regional Office for Europe has launched a new campaign called “Eliminating mpox: Placing affected populations at the heart of our response” to highlight the potential risk of a significant monkeypox (mpox) outbreak.

    Although mpox is no longer considered a public health emergency of international concern, recent reports from WHO Europe show an increase in cases, with 17 new infections reported in eight countries in the European region in the four weeks leading up to May 4.

    The campaign launched on Wednesday is meant to be a pre-emptive response to potential outbreak triggers, such as large gatherings for spring and summer events, inadequate testing and vaccine access, or the influx of infected individuals from other regions, Xinhua news agency reported. Key recommendations for health authorities include promoting accessible testing and vaccination in the most affected communities, with clear information on availability and eligibility.

    Other measures include developing comprehensive vaccination plans, enhancing health worker skills to identify mpox signs and offer appropriate advice and care, and declaring mpox a nationally notifiable disease to expedite detection and efficient outbreak response.

    Richard Peabody, high-threat pathogen team leader at WHO Europe, stressed the importance of these measures. “Complacency is not an option. Our latest mpox policy brief provides a roadmap for countries to control and ultimately eliminate the disease in our region,” he said in a press statement.

    The campaign also aims to offer a platform for the most vulnerable to share their experiences and insights, said WHO Europe.Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, said he was optimistic about the campaign’s potential impact. “Elimination is within our reach, but we must remember that mpox is still circulating. We must renew our collective efforts to stay on course towards eventual elimination.”

    This initiative follows the successful management of the largest-ever mpox outbreak in the European region in 2022, which provided valuable insights and refined control measures for the disease, according to WHO Europe.

    -IANS