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Safeguarding global health: FAO calls for a ‘paradigm shift’

LIVESTOCK health is the weakest link in the global health chain, according the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). In a report published last month, it calls for a new, more holistic approach to tackling disease threats and for a paradigm shift in risk assessment. The report, ‘World Livestock 2013: changing disease landscapes’ is the second in an FAO series. Its first report, ‘World Livestock 2011: livestock in food security’, described the contribution of livestock to food security in different regions and communities. Its latest report examines why and how pathogens of animal origin have become a major threat to global public health. It explains how the growing expansion in agriculture, a rise in world population and globalised food supply chains have altered how diseases emerge, jump between species and spread. It also looks at how the threats might be mitigated. In a foreword, Ren Wang, assistant director general in the FAO’s agriculture and consumer protection unit, notes that over 70 per cent of new diseases in people have originated in animals, and points out that people are becoming ever-more reliant on animals for food. ‘Livestock densities are changing, and production systems are impacting each other in new ways. Livestock-related trade is on the rise, and climate change is creating new opportunities for animal diseases to thrive. Food chain dynamics are enabling more diseases to develop more quickly, and the degradation of natural habitats is reducing natural coping mechanisms,’ he writes. He argues that, to meet the challenges, there is a need for an interlinked response: ‘Financiers, planners and natural resource managers must link their decisions to health coupled with food production needs and nutrition. Policymakers must consider urban trends and contribute to ecosystem stability. Veterinarians, physicians, economists, sociologists, and eco-health counterparts must jointly define the risk factors and drivers of today’s threats of animal origin. Scientists must take multidisciplinary approaches to address threats and minimise pressures leading to instabilities, identify areas for surveillance and control and contribute to the global dialogue. We must recognise how globalisation, population growth and technology push our markets and supply chains closer together to reveal growing threats with widespread impacts.’ The report examines the pressures impacting on disease and the impact of disease on animals, people and the environment. It says that developing countries face a ‘staggering burden’ of human, zoonotic and livestock diseases, and calls for diseases, particularly animal diseases, to be addressed at source. The FAO outlines four drivers for disease emergence on which it believes efforts should be focused: