World Health Organization (WHO) on Saturday launched an international surveillance network to rapidly detect threats posed by emerging infectious diseases such as COVID-19 and share information to prevent pandemics.
The International Pathogen Surveillance Network (IPSN) will provide a platform to connect countries and regions, improving sample collection and analysis systems, said the WHO.
The network should facilitate the rapid identification and traceability of communicable diseasesas well as the exchange of information and the necessary measures to prevent health catastrophes such as the pandemic of coronavirus.
It will be based on genomics, which consists of sequencing the genome of viruses, bacteria and other pathogens and studying their functioning to determine their contagion, danger and spread.
The new network, which will be launched on the eve of the World Health Assembly, which brings together each year in Geneva the member countries of the WHOwill have a secretariat within the WHO –”Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence”— and collect information on pandemics and epidemics.
The coronavirus pandemic highlighted the importance of studying the virus genome to combat the diseases for which they are responsible.
Although the pandemic COVID-19 encouraged countries to improve their genome sequencing capacity, others still lack the necessary capacity to collect and analyze samples, noted the WHO.
The new global network is called upon to face these types of challenges, since it should “give all countries access to pathogen genome sequencing and testing within their public health system”According to the director general of the WHO Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
(With information from AFP)
Source: Gestion
Ricardo is a renowned author and journalist, known for his exceptional writing on top-news stories. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he is known for his ability to deliver breaking news and insightful analysis on the most pressing issues of the day.
