International report lays out intend to 'escape from the pandemic era'

A fresh intergovernmental report has argued that the frequency and severity of pandemics increase unless authorities worldwide put policies in location to lower the risk.

The brand new report has argued that preemptive global action is essential in order to avoid more frequent and extreme pandemics.

The authors behind the report, that your Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) produced, identify the existing drivers of pandemic emergence and also make concrete policy recommendations for how exactly to minimize pandemic risk.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused profound hardship globally. And disrupting economies and social and cultural life, it has also led to the deaths greater than 1.2 million persons and seems to have caused long-term symptoms in a few of those who have recovered from the condition.

However, a fresh report from the IPBES shows that unless the world shifts from a reactive to a preemptive method of pandemic risk management, future pandemics could be both more frequent and more serious.

Dr. Peter Daszak, President of EcoHealth Alliance and Chair of the IPBES workshop that produced the report, states: “There is no great mystery about the reason for the COVID-19 pandemic - or of any modern pandemic. The same human activities that drive climate change and biodiversity loss also drive pandemic risk through their impacts on our environment.”

“Changes in the way we use land; the expansion and intensification of agriculture; and unsustainable trade, production, and consumption disrupt nature and increase contact between wildlife, livestock, pathogens, and folks. This is the path to pandemics,” he adds.

The authors of the report highlight there are approximately 1.7 million unknown viruses that exist within birds and mammals, which 540,000-850,000 may be able to transfer to humans in the way that SARS-CoV-2 and other zoonotic diseases did.

The authors remember that zoonotic diseases have already been the reason for “virtually all known pandemics.” However, they inform you that the condition lies not with nonhuman animals and the surroundings, but with human actions that are increasing the contact between humans and other animals.

As a result, the authors argue that the world should adopt a “one health” method of pandemics, recognizing the close relationship between human health, nonhuman animal health, and the surroundings. In line with the authors:

“Pandemics such as for example COVID-19 underscore both the interconnectedness of the world community and the rising threat posed by global inequality to the health, well-being, and security of most people.”

Adopting a one health approach would mean that, at a worldwide level, we'd be best in a position to minimize the frequency and severity of pandemics, enabling us to “escape from the pandemic era.”