Experts to probe health risks of human-animal interaction: WHO

Experts to probe health risks of human-animal interaction: WHO

GENEVA: The World Health Organization said yesterday it had tasked experts with assessing health risks at the interface between nature and humans in a bid to avoid future pandemics. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was sparked by a virus that likely originated in animals, the WHO this week created the One Health High-Level Expert Panel. Set up with the backing of France and Germany, it will provide advice to the WHO and others striving to draft a plan for averting outbreaks of diseases like bird flu, Ebola and COVID-19.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is a powerful demonstration that human health does not exist in a vacuum, and nor can our efforts to protect and promote it,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters. “The close links between human, animal and environmental health demand close collaboration, communication and coordination between the relevant sectors,” he said.

A full three quarters of all emerging infectious diseases originate in animals, the UN health agency said. COVID-19, which has now killed more than 3.4 million people globally since it first surfaced in China in late 2019, most likely jumped from bats to humans via an intermediate animal, according to experts, although it remains unclear exactly