WHO says countries continue to learn from pandemic

SINGAPORE − The World Health Organization (WHO) said it is committed to supporting all countries in continuously learning from the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the 7th World One Health Congress (WOHC) being held at the Sands Expo and Convention Center, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus encouraged member-countries that included the Philippines to continue working toward a healthier, safer and fairer world while the battle against the pandemic is still ongoing.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has taught all of us many painful lessons. There have been many reviews of the global response to the pandemic with more than 300 recommendations,” Tedros said in his opening remarks given virtually.

He added, “Drawing on those reviews, the WHO has developed a proposal for an enhanced global health architecture with stronger governance, stronger systems and tools, stronger financing that strongly empowered and sustainably financed WHO.”

Tedros said the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, UN Environment Program, WHO and the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) have launched the “One Health Joint Plan of Action” to integrate and coordinate their work across humans, animals, agricultural and environmental sectors.

“If you want to take action, it must be based on a One Health approach that addresses the intimate links between the health of humans, animals and our environments,” he added.

At the same time, the WHO chief also noted that “about 70 percent of all emerging pathogens have zoonotic source.”

“Irresponsible land use, deforestation and climate change all increase the risk of pathogens spilling over from wildlife, domestic animals to humans,” Tedros said.

“We can only truly make the world safer if we address these underlying drivers of epidemics and pandemics,” he said.

The WOHC, which aims to advance the One Health agenda, commenced yesterday with more than 1,400 in-person and 1,000 virtual attendees from academic institutions, civil society, government bodies and the private sector.

Singapore President Halimah Yacob graced the opening ceremony as guest of honor.

“We have journeyed long and hard, learning many lessons from COVID-19 together. Perhaps the greatest lesson on our interconnectivity is that we must leverage it well and early, to the best of our advantage,” Yacob said in her opening remarks as she highlighted collaboration as a key facet of the One Health approach, and an important factor in global health preparedness efforts.

“We must work together not only when a crisis unfolds, but strive to be ahead of the curve through strong collaborations and preparations even during peace time,” she said.

The five-day Congress hosted by Singapore’s SingHealth Duke-NUS Global Health Institute under the auspices of the SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Center is themed “Integrating Science, Policy and Clinical Practice: A One Health Imperative Post-COVID-19.”

It seeks to advance the global One Health movement to improve health and well-being by preventing and mitigating crises that originate at the animal-human-environment interface.

It was earlier reported that WHO member-states including the Philippines are crafting a “pandemic treaty” that will be used to guide and unite countries in times of health crisis.

Department of Health officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said, “Because of the current pandemic, all of the countries agreed that this treaty should be there. We all need to be prepared. We need to help each other when we find ourselves in this kind of situation.”

The pandemic treaty was among the issues discussed in the 73rd session of the WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific that was recently held in the Philippines.

Focus on prevention

At the same conference in Singapore, the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) said that in addressing pandemics such as COVID-19, there is a need to focus on prevention as it has a much lower cost compared to response and recovery.

WOAH Director-General Monique Eloit said prevention has the strongest case for investment.

“While expenditures for prevention and preparedness are measured in billions of dollars, the cost of just a single pandemic is in trillions,“ said Eloit.

She noted, “Recent work by the World Bank has highlighted that $10 billion, including about $7 billion for animal health, robust veterinary services and biosecurity at farm level, will be needed for prevention using a One Health approach.”

“Despite lessons learned from past pandemics and as evidenced by our recent experience, we must refocus our attention to financing risk reduction and pandemic prevention, for which a One Health approach is critical,” Eloit added.

She said prevention is the first crucial step to stop or at least limit spillovers of zoonotic diseases from animals to humans.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the need to work together to tackle the risks at the human-animal-ecosystem interface while considering the multiple drivers, including land use and climate change, loss of biodiversity and degradation of our ecosystems, unsustainable agricultural practice and animal production and wildlife trade and the rapid pace of globalization and population mobility,” the WOAH official said.

Unless we address these drivers we will continue to face increased frequency and severity of health emergencies and pandemics, she said, adding, “We need to transform our relationship with the environment and how we confront pathogens emergence and spread.”