The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, introduced a new initiative to enhance global preparedness for future pandemics like COVID-19.
The Zoonotic Disease Integrated Action (ZODIAC) seeks to establish a global network to help national laboratories in monitoring and control animal and zoonotic diseases such as COVID-19, Ebola, avian influenza and Zika. The idea is to help countries be better prepared for future outbreaks.
Zoonotic diseases are caused by bacteria, parasites, fungi, or viruses that originate in animals and are transmitted to humans. Many are treatable if medication is available, like e-coli, but others, like Ebola, SARS, and COVID-19, have the potential to severely affect humans. Zoonotic diseases kill roughly 2.7 million worldwide each year.
“Member States will have access to equipment, technology packages, expertise, guidance, and training. Decision-makers will receive up-to-date, user-friendly information that will enable them to act quickly,” Grossi, who launched the initiative, said.
COVID-19 had exposed deficiencies in many nations concerning virus detection, Grossi. It has also brought to light the need for better communication between health institutions around the world. Grossi said it was “essential to pull these diverse strands together into a coherent and comprehensive framework of assistance.”
ZODIAC will also support R&D activities for technologies and methodologies for early detection and surveillance. Also, IAEA will enhance its capacities to host scientists and fellows from Member States to research immunological, molecular, nuclear, and isotopic tests.
“About 70 percent of all diseases in humans come from animals,” Gerrit Viljoen, head of the Animal Production and Health Section of the Joint FAO/IAEA Programme for Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, said. “We have seen an increase in the number of zoonotic epidemics in the last decades: first Ebola, then Zika, and now COVID-19. It’s important to monitor what is in the animal kingdom – both wildlife and livestock – and to act quickly on those findings before the pathogens jump to humans.”