GENEVA: The World Health Organization (WHO) has unveiled the International Pathogen Surveillance Network (IPSN) on Saturday, aiming to swiftly detect and share information about infectious disease threats such as Covid-19 to prevent their spread.
The IPSN will serve as a platform for connecting countries and regions, enhancing systems for collecting and analyzing samples. Its primary objective is to ensure the rapid identification and tracking of infectious disease threats, with the aim of sharing and acting on information to prevent global health catastrophes like the Covid-19 pandemic.
The network will rely on pathogen genomics, analyzing the genetic code of viruses, bacteria, and other disease-causing organisms to assess their infectiousness, lethality, and transmission patterns.
The data collected will contribute to a comprehensive disease surveillance system, enabling the identification and tracking of diseases, and the development of treatments and vaccines.
WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, praised the ambitious goals of the IPSN, emphasizing its potential to play a vital role in global health security. He highlighted the importance of international collaboration in combating shared health threats, as demonstrated during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The IPSN, announced ahead of the annual meeting of WHO member states, will be administered by a secretariat within the WHO’s Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence.
It represents one of several initiatives launched since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, aiming to strengthen global readiness and response to pandemic threats.
The network will bring together experts in genomics and data analytics from various sectors, including governments, academia, and the private sector. Their shared objective is to detect and respond to disease threats before they escalate into epidemics and pandemics, while optimizing routine disease surveillance.
WHO underlines significance of genomics for diseases
The coronavirus pandemic highlighted the crucial role of pathogen genomics in effective response efforts. The rapid sequencing of the SARS-CoV-2 virus facilitated the development of vaccines and identification of new and more transmissible variants.
The WHO underlined the significance of genomics not only for Covid-19 but also for surveillance of other diseases, such as influenza and HIV.
Although the pandemic prompted countries to enhance their genomics capacity, the WHO warned that many nations still lack effective systems for sample collection and analysis.
The IPSN aims to address these challenges by providing every country with access to pathogen genomic sequencing and analytics as part of their public health systems.
