The
Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is calling for
sustained monitoring of animal diseases, particularly those that can cross
species barriers to infect humans.
I wish we had good animal-disease surveillance systems across Canada, let alone globally.
The
authors note that an earlier FAO report estimates
70 percent of new infectious human diseases detected in recent decades are of
animal origin.
They
also cite the recent Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa, which is believed to
have crossed over from wildlife to human populations.
Speaking
at a meeting on the Global Health Security
Agenda (GHSA) in Jakarta, Indonesia this week, FAO Chief
Veterinary Officer Juan Lubroth said "zoonootic diseases that can make the
jump from animals to humans are a real concern, but there is much that we can
do before the jump occurs and outbreaks take place, causing loss of life and
disrupting fragile livelihoods.”
According
to FAO, the international community must provide global health support, with a
new focus on investment in infrastructure, systems and capacities at the
national level to help reduce the risks of such emergencies happening in the
first place and increase the resilience of communities and health systems to
respond when they do.
At
the Jakarta conference, the FAO, along with the World Health Organization
(WHO), and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and representatives
of 60 countries are discussing how to collaborate under the auspices of the
GHSA to strengthen health systems to help prevent, detect and respond to emerging
disease threats.
These
organizations focus on the "One Health" approach, which looks at the
interplay between environmental factors, animal health, and human health and
brings human health professionals, veterinary specialists, sociologists,
economists, and ecologists together to work on disease risks in a collaborative
way.
