WHO Calls for Increased International Cooperation to Stop Spread of Disease

The World Health Organization warned in a report released today that stopping the spread of new and emerging diseases depends more than ever on the ability of countries and governments to coordinate disease surveillance and containment efforts with other nations.

With international travel easier than at any point in history, diseases are easily spread between continents. Over two billion people a year travel on airlines. Diseases can cross international borders within hours. The recent tuberculosis scare in the U.S. revealed how weak the current health surveillance system really is.

Other factors in the spread of diseases include national policy changes. Polio reemerged in Nigeria when government officials temporarily stopped vaccinations in 2003. Military conflicts also contribute to the spread of disease. Refugees from violence are often crowded into cramped, unhygienic camps without access to sanitation or medical care. The overuse of antibiotics and the increasing number of bacteria that are resistant to current medications are also a cause of growing concern.

Thirty-nine new pathogens have been identified since 1967, including such virulent viruses as HIV, Ebola, Marburg Fever and SARS. Older pathogens still have the ability to adapt to treatments and to mutate to more easily transmissible forms.

"Given today's universal vulnerability to these threats, better security calls for global solidarity," said Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO. "International public health security is both a collective aspiration and a mutual responsibility. The new watchwords are diplomacy, cooperation, transparency and preparedness.

In addition to the toll on public health, disease outbreaks also have an economic impact on affected countries. In 2003, at the height of the SARS epidemic, Asian countries lost $60 billion in health care costs and lost business.

The report recommends six steps, including full implementation of the International Health Regulations, global cooperation in outbreak alert response, and open sharing of knowledge and technology, to increase international cooperation to stem the spread of emerging diseases. Other steps recommended include cross-sector collaboration within governments and increased global resources for training and surveillance.

The need for increased cooperation is evidenced by the emergence of the current bird flu virus, which has infected 321 people. While the current virus is transmitted between birds and humans, experts fear that the virus will mutate to a more easily transmissible form. If the virus develops a human to human
mutation, experts fear a repeat of the 1918 flu outbreak, when an estimated 20 million people lost their lives.

Source: WHO Press Release (http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2007/pr44/en/index.html)