The WHO has decided to improve the protection of populations against infectious diseases by setting up an international pathogen surveillance network based on the analysis of pathogen genetic codes. Once the end of the Covid-19 pandemic had been declared, the WHO decided to set up an international pathogen surveillance network, which translates into a platform for linking countries, sharing knowledge and using data to help make public health decisions. This new tool is based on pathogen genomics, a field of scientific research that analyses the genetic codes of viruses, bacteria and any other organism responsible for infection.
The idea is to assess the contagiousness, dangerousness and mode of propagation of pathogens. The data collected and analyzed will be used to identify and track infectious diseases and should enable treatments to be developed much more rapidly when one of the agents identified is likely to spread.
The importance of pathogen genomics was highlighted during the Covid-19 pandemic when it was the sequencing of the SARS-CoV2 virus genome that enabled the rapid development of effective vaccines, the identification of new variants of the virus and the assessment of how dangerous each was. Using this information, pathogen genomics has also made it possible to take various public health decisions to protect populations threatened by the virus. This process has already been used, for example, to monitor the spread of drug resistance to the AIDS virus. Its role is both to facilitate disease surveillance and to support national responses to epidemics and pandemics.
The International Pathogen Surveillance Network, or IPSSN, is hosted by the Center for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence in WHO’s Health Crises Department, and brings together global experts in genomics and data analysis, from academia and the private sector, as well as from governments, civil society and non-profit organizations. RISP’s main objective is to detect health threats before they become epidemics or pandemics. The network must also be able to respond to an established threat and optimize the surveillance of routine diseases.
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