Interconnected world: Global epidemics just a flight away

Experts urge colleagues around the world to unite to tackle spread of diseases

ISLAMABAD: With the world increasingly interconnected, scientists and researchers from across the world have warned that only one long-distance flight was the difference between an outbreak and a global epidemic.

This was stressed during an international workshop on health by the US-based National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and Pakistan Academy of Sciences (PAS) on Thursday.  The experts commented that the world had become highly interconnected today and that people, animals, and diseases– as well as the pathogens they carry or transmit – were only an aeroplane ride away from any point on the globe.



Moreover, increasing interaction between humans and animals, whether due to overcrowding, commerce, or due to human colonisation of previously uninhabited or sparsely populated settings, it was creating the perfect environment for the rapid spread of diseases.

In this regard they pointed to the outbreaks and rapid spread of diseases such as the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), foot and mouth disease, Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), avian influenza, and Nipah virus which caused not only major human suffering but also enormous economic cost.   SARS alone caused estimated economic losses of around $30-50 billion. However, the scientists suggested that this interconnectedness could also be used to function as a global public health community in building capacity to respond to diseases which had the potential to become an epidemic.

A country where human and animal scientists, health care workers, and epidemiologists know how to work together ahead of a mass public health threat would likely be resilient in the face of an actual outbreak. Moreover, the world in which scientists from different countries knew each other, and have formed professional relationships and networks, would know how to tackle a crisis effectively.



Nurturing such connections among countries and building inter-disciplinary cadres of skilled and trained individuals at the country level, takes time and resources, they said.

Results of a pilot fellowship programme between the NAS and PAS to build the capacity of early to mid-career scientists from Pakistan in one-health, and to foster collaboration and cooperation among countries in preparedness and response to zoonotic diseases were also shared.

Earlier, Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training Minister of State Balighur Rehman promised the government’s all-out support to join hands with international partners, to contain infectious diseases.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 31^st, 2017.