It's so thinly stretched, there's arguably no organization on earth that could cover all those (topics) at sufficient depth to be authoritative.

Jeremy Farrar

Categorized in : Healthcare

The job is still not done, as Ebola infection rates come under control it's a huge concern that complacency sets in, attention moves to more immediate threats and Ebola vaccine development is left half-finished.

After the hard lessons we've learned, it would be a tragedy not to put a final stop to the current Ebola epidemic and be prepared for the next outbreak.

The increase in reported cases of Guillain-Barré in Brazil and other South American countries seems to suggest that a similar situation may be occurring in the current outbreak, although the link here is yet to be proven definitively.

This is particularly true for Zika, where so much is still unknown about the virus, how it is spread and the possible link with microcephaly.

Epidemic and pandemic diseases are among the greatest of all threats to human health and security, against which we have for too long done too little to prepare, after four inquiries into the preventable tragedy of Ebola, there is now a strong consensus about what must be done. The WHO’s leadership and member states must make 2016 the year of decision and act now.

The WHO faced heavy criticism for waiting too long to declare the Ebola outbreak a public health emergency and they should be congratulated for being far more proactive this time.

As we saw with the new confirmed case just last week, the Ebola epidemic is likely to have a long tail and it's possible that several more isolated cases will emerge in the coming weeks and months, this vaccine...could still play an important role in containing any additional flare ups of this outbreak, as well as being available to help prevent future epidemics.

Few global events match epidemics and pandemics in potential to disrupt human security and inflict loss of life and economic and social damage, yet for many decades, the world has invested far less in preventing, preparing for and responding to these threats than in comparable risks to international and financial security.

What we need to see now is action, the WHO's leadership and its member states must make 2016 the year in which we learn the lessons of past epidemics and pandemics and implement these valuable measures, to build a more resilient global health system.

We can now be certain that the health of livestock animals, and how we care for them, is inextricably linked to our own health and the effectiveness of medicines we rely on every day, we need international governments, policy makers and the agricultural industry to coordinate their actions and set tangible targets for the reduction and better use of antibiotics in animals.

This is totally unprecedented. We've never seen this, and there's so much uncertainty, is this a one off? A very rare event? Or is this going to be quite common? The honest answer is we don't know.

The uncertainty is very difficult to communicate, but it absolutely underlines why research is so critical, there are so many unanswered questions, all with really profound implications - for the epidemic, for the survivors and their families, and for the next inevitable outbreak of Ebola.

It also reminds us that the Ebola epidemic could be far from over, with more than 17,000 Ebola survivors, it's possible that further cases of delayed transmission and late complications will occur.

This trial dared to use a highly innovative and pragmatic design, which allowed the team in Guinea to assess this vaccine in the middle of an epidemic, our hope is that this vaccine will now help bring this epidemic to an end and be available for the inevitable future Ebola epidemics.

We can no longer sit back and ignore the chronic lack of progress in developing new vaccines, and improving existing ones.

It's essential that this new body is accountable and can show leadership in the face of emerging health threats, with the authority and independence to act quickly when needed, the support of the global community is also crucial if we are to avert another catastrophe on the scale of Ebola.

We mustn't think surveillance itself is enough. The world is already much better at detecting these things as they emerge. But what we need is the capacity to respond.

The collective expertise of the world's infectious disease experts is more powerful than any single lab, and the best way of tapping into this...is to make data freely available as soon as possible.

Families who know what it is like to care for a child with a devastating disease are the people best placed to decide whether mitochondrial donation is the right option.

Drug resistance has to be put into the same category as the emerging infectious diseases. In my view, it will be the most important emerging infectious disease in the 21st century.