Abstract
WASH reduces transmission of infections among potential hosts, reducing the need for antimicrobials and the subsequent selection pressure for the development or escalation of AMR.18 Widespread vaccination in humans and animals reduces transmission of infection, thus lowering the demand for antimicrobials and, therefore, the selection pressure on pathogens.19 Promoting IPC requires strengthening hospital waste management, disinfection and sterilisation, routine screening for resistant pathogens, and enhancing biosecurity in agriculture.20 Implementing stewardship programmes across human health-care, veterinary, and agricultural sectors ensures appropriate use of antimicrobials.21 Strengthening diagnostics requires investments in microscopy, culture, and sensitivity, molecular tools, rapid diagnostics, and point-of-care testing of humans and animals to improve treatment precision by enabling targeted antimicrobial therapy and reducing unnecessary use of antimicrobials.22 Public awareness and behaviour change campaigns need to educate the public on the dangers of AMR, risks of self-medication, and importance of completing antimicrobial courses to foster responsible antimicrobial use.23 Behaviour change techniques, such as peer comparisons and benchmarking,24 can be used to reduce inappropriate use of antimicrobials by professionals involved in the human health and agri-food sectors. Neuroinvasive diseases occur in less than 1% of cases, with a fatality rate of 10–30%.4 WNV is a WHO priority pathogen that poses a high risk for public health emergencies of global concern.5 Over the past two decades, WNV has emerged as a public health concern in the Americas and Europe, causing neurological disease6 and expanding its geographical range.7 Considering the widespread distribution of WNV and the severity of its outbreaks in immunologically naive populations, understanding the global historical dispersal of the virus from its inferred African origin is crucial.8,9 However, phylogeographic reconstructions conducted are restricted to only some regions of the world.10–12 Although WNV was first detected in Africa and is endemic to the continent,13 and numerous African countries experience a long-term disease burden due to the virus, the true transmission risk in the continent is often unclear, with insufficient epidemiological data for 19 countries.8 Genomic data are crucial for investigating transmission dynamics and understanding disease outbreaks.9,14,15 Considering the power of molecular epidemiology,16,17 a full assessment of the landscape of molecular surveillance for WNV is essential. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, WHO has worked with the rest of the Quadripartite alliance (the World Organization for Animal Health, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, and UNEP) on pandemic prevention through the One Health approach (eg, through the One Health High-Level Expert Panel [OHHLEP] and the One Health Joint Plan of Action).16 Similarly, several UN bodies have a unique mandate related to pandemic response and recovery—eg, the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the only UN programme dedicated to a specific pandemic, and the UN Development Programme, which led the UN's socioeconomic response to the COVID-19 pandemic.17 Notably, the UN Development Programme also oversees progress towards Sustainable Development Goals, many of which (eg, eliminating poverty, improving sanitation, protecting biodiversity, stopping climate change, and achieving gender equality) have important co-benefits for the reduction of pandemic risk. For example, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the Zika virus epidemic in the Americas, and both the clade I and II global mpox epidemics highlight many of the same topics as COVID-19, but also underscore the relevance of discrimination and sexual and reproductive health and the risk that the next pandemic pathogen could be sexually transmitted.25 Similarly, influenza A virus has caused more modern pandemics (including the deadliest) than any other pathogen, the 1918, 1957, 1968, and 2009 influenza pandemics all highlight the unique threat posed by this virus and the challenge of feeding the world while reducing pandemic risks related to animal agriculture.20 An IPP has the unique opportunity to look past any one outbreak and conduct a truly comprehensive assessment of pandemic risks and solutions, including assessing present and future pandemic risks and associated impacts, including under future scenarios for planetary change, synthesising evidence on the contributions of epidemiological, ecological, economic, social, legal, and political risk factors, and assessing evidence in support of potential levers for intervention in each of those domains (panel 3).
Key Data
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Publication Date15 August 2025
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Primary AuthorElias Mossialos
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SourceLancet Oncology
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LanguageEnglish
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