FAO, WHO, and WOAH Urge Countries to Work Together to Prevent Avian Influenza
The agencies say that the unprecedented spread of the A (H5N1) avian influenza virus among birds and mammals poses a serious risk to both human and animal health.
New York, US-FAO, WHO, and WOAH have urged countries to work together to save animals, protect people from avian influenza, writes Winston Mwale.
The agencies say that the unprecedented spread of the A (H5N1) avian influenza virus among birds and mammals poses a serious risk to both human and animal health.
They are calling on countries to take a number of steps to prevent the spread of the virus, including:
Enhancing biosecurity measures in farms and poultry value chains.
Rapidly detecting, reporting, and responding to animal outbreaks.
Strengthening influenza surveillance in animals and humans.
Conducting epidemiological and virological investigations around animal outbreaks and human infections.
Sharing the genetic sequence data of viruses from humans, animals, or their environments in publicly accessible databases rapidly, even before peer-reviewed publication.
Encouraging collaboration between the animal and human health sectors.
Communicating the risk to the public.
The agencies say that the threat of avian influenza is real and that countries need to take action now to prevent the virus from spreading further.
"The recent paradigm change in the ecology and epidemiology of avian influenza has heightened global concern as the disease spread to new geographical regions and caused unusual wild bird die-offs, and alarming rise in mammalian cases," said Dr Gregorio Torres, Head of the Science Department at WOAH.
The agencies say that they are working closely with countries to help them implement these measures and to prevent the spread of avian influenza.
They urge all countries to take action now to protect their animals and their people.