WHO backs Geneva One Health principles

WHO member states gathered in Geneva this week for the 79th World Health Assembly as officials and outside experts used current outbreaks to press for stronger links between human, animal and environmental health systems. The meeting runs from May 18 to May 23 and is WHO’s main annual decision-making forum. (who.int) WHO’s May 21 daily update said delegates were continuing discussions on health emergencies, financing and implementation across the assembly agenda. Outside the formal proceedings, supporters of the “Geneva Principles for One Health” said the aim was to turn broad pandemic-prevention commitments into operational cross-sector action. (medicalxpress.com) The push came as WHO and partner agencies were managing two live tests of outbreak response. (who.int) WHO has documented a multi-country hantavirus cluster linked to the cruise ship MV Hondius, and on May 17 the agency determined that the Ebola outbreak caused by Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda constituted a public health emergency of international concern. Helen Clark, the former New Zealand prime minister and co-chair of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, said the episodes showed improvements in emergency reaction but continuing weaknesses in risk detection and preparedness. ### What are the Geneva Principles meant to change? The World Federation of Public Health Associations said the Geneva Principles for One Health Implementation were adopted on May 19 during a World Health Assembly side event in Geneva. (who.int) The group said the principles were designed to move One Health from general endorsement to implementation, linking public health, animal health and environmental action. CGTN, reporting from the same gathering on May 22, said the initiative was presented as a way to convert pandemic-prevention pledges into practical coordination across sectors. WHO’s assembly pages show climate, air quality and energy were also part of the wider WHA79 agenda, underscoring how environmental risks were being discussed alongside core health-security issues. (who.int) ### Why are hantavirus and Ebola central to this week’s debate? WHO said on May 4 that a hantavirus cluster aboard the MV Hondius involved seven cases, including three deaths, and by May 13 it reported 11 cases, including three deaths, across several countries. WHO Europe later called it the first documented outbreak of this virus on a ship and said the event tested the international health security framework at sea. (wfpha.org) Helen Clark said in Geneva on May 20 that “the new international health regulations are working” in the response phase, but added that “our issue is now really upstream from that” and “we’re not there yet” on surveillance, early detection and risk-informed preparedness. She said the hantavirus species involved was known to be endemic in the area of Argentina where the ship departed from, raising questions about whether that risk had been fully understood. (news.cgtn.com) ### What is happening in the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak? WHO said on May 17 that the Bundibugyo-virus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda met the threshold for a public health emergency of international concern, though not for a pandemic emergency. (who.int) As of May 16, WHO reported eight laboratory-confirmed cases, 246 suspected cases and 80 suspected deaths in Ituri Province in the DRC, plus two laboratory-confirmed cases in Kampala, including one death, among travelers from the DRC. Africa CDC said on May 15 that it was supporting a rapid regional response with national authorities and partners. (medicalxpress.com) The agency cited provisional figures from the DRC of about 246 suspected cases and 65 deaths and said an urgent coordination meeting with health authorities from the DRC, Uganda and South Sudan, together with WHO, UNICEF, the Pandemic Fund, the African Medicines Agency and the U.S. CDC, would focus on surveillance, laboratory support, case management and resource mobilization. ### Why does Bundibugyo raise a separate preparedness problem? The Bundibugyo strain has exposed a countermeasure gap because there is no widely established licensed vaccine or approved treatment specifically for this strain in the way there is for Zaire ebolavirus, according to specialist and WHO-linked reporting. (who.int) Clark said the outbreak appeared to have spread for weeks while tests focused on another strain were returning negative results, and she called for investigation into what capacities were missing. Her warning also extended to financing. Clark said poorer and more fragile countries had been expected to replace donor-backed health investment too quickly, and said “global solidarity remains extremely important.” (africacdc.org) ### Which countries are trying to strengthen readiness now? Zambia has recently expanded training and capacity-building on Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response, Go.Data and Pandemic Influenza Preparedness with support from WHO and partners, according to Africa.com. The report said the effort was part of a broader attempt to strengthen outbreak detection, data management and emergency readiness as neighboring countries confront cross-border health threats. (medicalxpress.com) WHO’s World Health Assembly sessions continue in Geneva through May 23, and the organization has said proceedings are being webcast live. The assembly’s daily updates and side events are expected to provide the next formal readout on health-emergency discussions and any follow-up to the One Health initiative. (medicalxpress.com) (who.int) (africa.com)