The WHO has launched a new system, an international network for monitoring emerging infectious diseases, to prevent global epidemics such as Covid-19.
- The WHO has created an international platform for the exchange of information on infectious diseases.
- All countries will thus have easier access to genome sequencing and analysis techniques.
- The study of the SARS CoV-2 genome has notably made it possible to develop vaccines against Covid-19.
This is an initiative directly linked to Covid-19: the World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a new international system for monitoring emerging infectious diseases. Its name is International Pathogen Surveillance Network (IPSN). Via a platform, all countries and regions will be able to share information – dangerousness, mode of dissemination, etc. – on pathologies as well as sample analyses.
The WHO international network relies on genomics
In detail, this tool is based on genomics. Thus, it will be possible to sequence the genome of several pathogens, viruses and bacteria. The aim is to detect and react more quickly in the event of an emerging communicable disease, as was the case with Covid-19.
For this, the IPSN will “give each country access to sequencing and genomic analysis of pathogens within the framework of its public health system, explains Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the WHO, in a communicated. As has been so clearly demonstrated to us during the Covid-19 pandemic, the world is stronger when united to fight common health threats.”
As with Covid-19, the goal is to share knowledge
During the Covid-19 health crisis, the study of the SARS CoV-2 genome notably made it possible to develop vaccines against this disease and therefore to stem the epidemic. “Global collaboration in genomic surveillance of pathogens has been crucial during Covid-19says Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, in the WHO press release. The IPSN builds on this experience by creating a platform that allows partners from all sectors and [de tous les pays] to share knowledge, tools and practices to ensure that the prevention and response to a pandemic is robust and innovative in the future.”
The IPSN will have its own secretariat located at “Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence“, in Berlin, Germany. It is made up of international experts.”All share a common goal: to detect and respond to disease threats before they become epidemics and pandemics and to optimize routine disease surveillance“, can we read in the statement of the WHO.
