International Spread of Disease Threatens Health, Economies and Security

International Spread of Disease Threatens Health, Economies and Security

August 23, 2007

World Health Report 2007: A safer future -- global public
health security in the 21st century

    GENEVA, Switzerland, Aug. 23 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ --
More than at any previous time in history, global public
health security depends on international cooperation and
the willingness of all countries to act effectively in
tackling new and emerging threats. That is the clear
message of this year's World Health Report, A Safer Future,
which concludes with six key recommendations to secure the
highest level of global public health security:

    (Logo:
http://www.xprn.com/xprn/sa/20061102095006-51-min.jpg )

    -- Full implementation of the revised International
Health Regulations
       (IHR 2005) by all countries.

    -- Global cooperation in surveillance and outbreak
alert and response.

    -- Open sharing of knowledge, technologies and
materials, including 
       viruses and other laboratory samples, necessary to
optimize secure 
       global public health.

    -- Global responsibility for capacity building within
the public health 
       infrastructure of all countries.

    -- Cross-sector collaboration within governments.

    -- Increased global and national resources for
training, surveillance, 
       laboratory capacity, response networks, and
prevention campaigns.

    In our increasingly interconnected world, new diseases
are emerging at an unprecedented rate, often with the
ability to cross borders rapidly and spread. Since 1967, at
least 39 new pathogens have been identified, including HIV,
Ebola haemorrhagic fever, Marburg fever and SARS. Other
centuries-old threats, such as pandemic influenza, malaria
and tuberculosis, continue to pose a threat to health
through a combination of mutation, rising resistance to
antimicrobial medicines and weak health systems.

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

    The need for global solidarity is especially clear in
the response to outbreaks of infectious diseases. This
month, WHO has been closely involved in the response to an
outbreak of Marburg fever in Uganda. Together with partners
in the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN)
including the United States Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), Medecins sans Frontieres, the Uganda Virus
Research Institute, and African Field Epidemiology Network
and local NGOs, WHO is supporting the Ministry of Health to
strengthen active surveillance, contact tracing, infection
control, logistics, and social mobilization activities in
an effort to contain the outbreak. 

    The team is carefully studying conditions surrounding
the initial transmission, in the hope of improving
understanding of where the virus resides in nature and how
it passes to humans, improving the ability to predict and
prevent outbreaks in the future. 

    WHO and its partners are closely involved in the global
response to H5N1 avian influenza, which has caused huge
outbreaks in poultry and at least 308 human deaths since it
was first isolated in humans in 1997.

    This World Health Report traces the history of efforts
to contain infectious diseases (including plague, cholera
and smallpox). It describes the evolution of outbreak
surveillance and response activities of international
partnerships of agencies and technical institutions. These
include GOARN, the chemical and environmental health
incident alert and response system, and the Global Polio
Eradication Initiative, which is supporting surveillance of
many other vaccine-preventable diseases.

    The report shows how and why diseases are increasingly
threatening global public health security. High and rapid
mobility of people is one factor. Airlines now carry more
than 2 billion passengers a year, enabling people and the
diseases that travel with them to pass from one country to
another in a matter of hours. The potential health and
economic impact was seen in 2003 with SARS, which cost
Asian countries an estimated US$ 60 billion of gross
expenditure and business losses.

    The report outlines some of the human factors behind
public health insecurity, including: 

    -- inadequate investment in public health resulting
from a false sense
       of security in the absence of infectious disease
outbreaks; 

    -- unexpected policy changes such as a decision
temporarily to halt 
       immunization in Nigeria, which led to the
re-emergence of polio cases; 

    -- conflict situations when forced migration obliges
people to live 
       in overcrowded, unhygienic and impoverished
conditions heightening 
       the risk of epidemics; 

    -- microbial evolution and antibiotic resistance; and 

    -- animal husbandry and food processing threats such as
the human form
       of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and Nipah
virus. 

    Pandemic influenza is described as the most feared
threat to health security in our times. The report sets out
the WHO strategic action plan to respond to a pandemic,
draws attention to the need for stronger health systems and
for continued vigilance in managing the risks and
consequences of the international spread of polio and the
newly emerging strain of extensively drug-resistant TB
(XDR-TB). New health threats have also emerged, linked to
potential terrorist attacks, chemical incidents and
radionuclear accidents.

    The revised International Health Regulations (2005) are
based on the premise that no country can fully protect its
citizens in isolation or through traditional border
controls. The IHR 2005 is a set of rules that governs how
countries should assess and report to WHO public health
emergencies of potential international concern. The broad
definitions of "public health risk",
"disease" and "event" ensure that risks
caused by the accidental or intentional release of pathogens
or chemical or radionuclear materials are covered by the
Regulations.

    Since the IHR 2005 entered into force, almost all of
the 193 WHO Member States have established their national
IHR focal points, with 179 designations. Since then, WHO
has been receiving alerts of health events on a regular
basis, conducting joint risk assessments with the notifying
State(s) and sharing real-time information with other Member
States.

    The full report can be downloaded at :
http://www.who.int/whr/2007/en/  

    The Report is available in English, French and Spanish
and the Executive summery in the six UN languages. 

    All press releases, fact sheets and other WHO media
material may be found at: http://www.who.int . 


    For further information please contact: 

     Fadela Chaib
     WHO Department of Communications, Geneva
     Tel:   [phone]
     Cell:  [phone]
     Email: [e-mail] 

     Iain Simpson
     WHO Department of Communications, Geneva
     Tel:   [phone]
     Cell:  [phone]
     Email: [e-mail] 

     Thomson Prentice
     Editor World Health Report
     Tel:   [phone]
     Cell:  [phone] 
     Email: [e-mail]