WHO launches global network to detect and prevent infectious disease threats

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WHO and its partners are launching a global network to help protect people from infectious disease threats through the power of pathogen genomics. The International Pathogen Surveillance Network (IPSN) will provide a platform to connect countries and regions, improve systems for collecting and testing samples, use this data to drive public health decision-making, and share that information more broadly.

Pathogen genomics analyzes the genetic code of viruses, bacteria, and other disease-causing organisms to understand how infectious they are, how deadly they are, and how they spread. With this information, scientists and public health officials can identify and track diseases to prevent and respond to outbreaks as part of a broader disease surveillance system and to develop treatments and vaccines.

The IPSN, with a Secretariat housed in the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence, brings together experts from around the world in the latest in genomics and data analysis, from governments, philanthropic foundations, multilateral organizations, civil society, academia and the private sector. They all share a common goal: to detect and respond to disease threats before they become epidemics and pandemics, and to optimize routine disease surveillance.

The goal of this new network is ambitious, but it can also play a vital role in health security: to give all countries access to genomic sequencing and analysis of pathogens as part of their public health system”, said the Director General of WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. . “As has been so clearly demonstrated to us during the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is strongest when it comes together to fight shared health threats.”

COVID-19 highlighted the critical role that pathogen genomics plays in responding to pandemic threats. Without rapid sequencing of the SARS-COV-2 genome, the vaccines would not have been as effective or available as quickly. New, more transmissible variants of the virus would not have been identified so quickly. Genomics is at the heart of effective epidemic and pandemic preparedness and response, as well as part of ongoing surveillance for a wide range of diseases, from foodborne illness and influenza to tuberculosis and HIV. Its use to monitor the spread of HIV drug resistance, for example, has led to antiretroviral regimens that have saved countless lives.

“Global collaboration on genomic surveillance of pathogens has been critical in the global fight against COVID-19,” said Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, President of the Rockefeller Foundation. “IPSN builds on this experience by creating a robust platform for partners across sectors and borders to share knowledge, tools and practices to ensure that pandemic prevention and response are innovative and robust going forward.”

Despite the recent expansion of genomics capacity in countries as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many still lack effective systems to collect and analyze samples or use that data to drive public health decision-making. Not enough data, practices, and innovations are shared to build a robust global health surveillance architecture. Budgets that skyrocketed during the pandemic, allowing for a rapid build-up of skills, are now being cut, even in the richest countries.

“Argentina is deeply involved in developing our own country’s capacity in pathogen genomics and the capacity of other countries,” said Josefina Campos, director of the ANLIS Malbrán National Center for Genomics and Bioinformatics, Argentina. “Diseases do not respect borders: a disease threat in one country is also a threat to others. We look forward to collaborating with IPSN members to achieve our common goal of preventing disease and saving lives.”

The IPSN will address these challenges through a global network, connecting geographies and disease-specific networks, to build a collaborative system to better detect, prevent, and respond to disease threats. Members will work together in dedicated groups that will focus on specific challenges, supported by funding through IPSN to further ideas and projects in pathogen genomics. By connecting countries, regions and broader stakeholders, IPSN will help increase critical capacity, amplify voices at the regional and national levels and strengthen their priorities.

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About the launch of IPSN

IPSN will be formally launched on the sidelines of the World Health Assembly in Geneva. The launch event will take place on May 20, 2023, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. (CET) at the InterContinental Geneva, and is open to the media. please write to [email protected] for the remote link.

Includes keynote addresses by:

• Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General, World Health Organization;
• Dr. Mike Ryan, Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme; and
• Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, Assistant Director-General, World Health Organization, Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence.

There will also be a panel with high-level speakers from IPSN funders and Member States, including;

• Dame Jenny Harries, Chief Executive of the UK Health Security Agency;
• Dr. Jean Kaseya, Director General, African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;
• Dr. Naveen Rao, Senior Vice President of the Rockefeller Foundation;
• Dr Alexander Pym, Director of Infectious Diseases, Wellcome Trust;
• Professor Tulio de Oliveira, Director of the Center for Epidemiology at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa;
• Björn Kümmel, Deputy Head of Unit, Global Health, Federal Ministry of Health, Germany;
• Professor Leo Yee Sin, Executive Director of the National Center for Infectious Diseases; Singapore;
• Dr. Mario Moreira, President, Fiocruz, Brazil; and
• Dr. Josefina Campos, Director of the National Center for Genomics and Bioinformatics of ANLIS Malbrán, Argentina.

The event will be held in a hybrid format, providing an opportunity for IPSN members and broader audiences to engage with IPSN and its activities.