The World Health Organization (WHO) on May 20 launched a global network to help rapidly detect threats from infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, and share information to prevent the spread of these diseases.
Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Mr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus speaks in Geneva, Switzerland. Photo: AFP/TTXVN
The global network, called the International Pathogen Surveillance Network (IPSN), will provide a platform to connect countries and regions and improve sample collection and analysis systems, WHO said. The IPSN will help ensure that infectious disease threats are identified and tracked quickly, and that information is shared and action is coordinated to prevent disasters like the COVID-19 pandemic.
The network will rely on pathogen genomes to analyze the genetic code of viruses, bacteria and other disease-causing organisms to learn how infectious and dangerous pathogens are and how they spread. The data collected will feed into a broader disease surveillance system to identify and track diseases, prevent outbreaks and develop treatments and vaccines.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus praised the IPSN's "ambitious" goals, noting that the network could "play a vital role in health security." "As has been clearly demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is stronger when it comes together to fight common health threats," Tedros said.
The IPSN, announced a day before the annual meeting of WHO member states in Geneva, is the latest in a number of initiatives launched since the COVID-19 pandemic to strengthen the world's ability to prevent and respond more effectively to pandemic threats.
According to VNA
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