Viruses and diseases have been a presence in the journey of humanity since day one. The spread of these pathogens throughout the international community has defined history and impacted the course of humanity’s existence. From the 1918 influenza outbreak to cholera, there have always been viruses to contend with. That fact is no different today, where every day the impact of zoonotic viruses such as Ebola, Bird Flu, MERS, and the Zika virus can be observed. A zoonotic virus is simply defined as a pathogen that is passed from a non-human vertebrate to a human. It is estimated that about 60% of human infections are estimated to have originated from an animal, and among all new and emerging diseases that are infectious to humans, 75% of them “jump” from non-human species to humans. This high percentage likely stems from unsustainable human practices resulting in increasing exposure events.
Successfully managing the spread of zoonotic viruses has historically been mixed. On one hand, the response to the 2003 SARS outbreak in China, from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) warning to the development of treatments that saw the spread of the virus all but halted, took only six months. On the other hand, the Ebola outbreak in West Africa that lasted from 2013-2016 saw over 11,000 people die from the virus. In this case, it took months simply to confirm that Ebola was the cause of the serious illnesses and deaths. Therefore, it is clear that, especially in developing nations, the responses to control many infectious diseases are reactive instead of proactive. This needs to change if another pandemic-scale event is to be prevented. However most preventive measures at the moment are expensive, leaving few incentives for farmers to implement them without eating into profits or operating at a loss.
Since zoonotic viruses make up such a large percentage of infectious diseases, limiting their spread greatly reduces the chances of future outbreaks and leads to an overall healthier ecosystem. The WHO, along with several other international organizations continue to warn that additional outbreaks can not only result in catastrophic loss of human life, but trillions of US dollars in costs globally. It is the responsibility of the World Health Organization to develop and recommend best practices and policies to limit the spread of these viruses
Focus Questions:
- What should be done, if anything, at the international level to incentivize states to make reforms?
- What’s currently being done by the WHO, and are these measures working?
- How can the WHO mitigate the cost of disease-prevention measures for developing nations?
Research Links:
WHO Zoonoses Fact Sheet
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/zoonoses
UNEP Assessment on Zoonotic Diseases
https://unsdg.un.org/sites/default/files/2020-07/UNEP-Preventing-the-next-pandemic.pdf
