The World Health Organisation has emphasised the need for Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) to strengthen the world’s ability to prevent, detect and respond to infectious disease threats.
WHO Country Representative, Dr Walter Kazadi Mulombo, made this known on Wednesday during the high-level policy dialogue on strengthening health security in Nigeria in Abuja.
Dr Mulombo stated that more than 70 countries had signed the GHSA framework.
“The global public health security is important to minimise the danger and impact of acute public health events that endanger people’s health across geographical regions and international boundaries,” he said.
The WHO official noted that global health security is a shared responsibility that can only be achieved upon collaboration among the health, security, environmental and agricultural sectors.
He urged health sector reform coalition partnership with the legislative initiative for sustainable development to conduct the extended policy dialogue on the legislative reforms on health security.
Dr Mulombo charged civil society organisations to assess community needs and communicate them to decision-makers so that they are considered when defining priorities and designing policy.
He stressed that AI is shaping the global health security through enhanced disease surveillance; predictive modelling and risk assessment; personalised health care interventions; assisting in the development of strategic response plans; supporting real-time decision-making and optimizing the allocation of critical resources; accelerating the discovery and development of vaccines and therapeutics by analyzing vast datasets to identify potential candidates.
