The World Health Organization created a global network on Saturday to aid in the rapid detection of infectious diseases such as Covid-19 and the sharing of information to prevent their spread.
According to the organization, the International Pathogen Surveillance Network (IPSN) would provide a platform for connecting countries and regions, as well as upgrading procedures for collecting and analyzing samples.
The network’s goal is to help ensure that infectious disease concerns are quickly discovered and tracked, and that information is shared and acted on in order to avoid disasters like the Covid epidemic.
Pathogen genomics will be used by the network to analyze the genetic code of viruses, bacteria, and other disease-causing organisms in order to determine how contagious and lethal they are and how they spread.
The information gathered will be fed into a larger disease surveillance system that will be used to identify and track diseases in order to contain outbreaks and develop therapies and vaccinations.
