Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director of the World Health Organization (WHO) and Angela Merkel, German Chancellor announced Wednesday, May 5, the creation of a world center for forecasting and detection of epidemics in Berlin.
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"
The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the shortcomings of global intelligence systems on pandemics and epidemics,
" said the director of the WHO, at a press conference. “
Viruses move fast, but data can move even faster. With the right information, countries and communities can stay ahead of the risks,
”he added.
In the case of Covid-19, the first cases were reported on December 31, 2019 in the Chinese city of Wuhan, when the epidemic had already gained ground. International experts appointed by the WHO to study the origin of the virus agree that the epidemic could have started between the end of September and the beginning of December. "
It is the EIOS system (WHO's epidemiological watch platform) which collected the first reports of a new virus in Wuhan, China, in the early hours of December 31, 2019
", explained the director of the 'WHO. “
Our goal is for the WHO Hub to take this work to the next level, generating better data and better analysis,
” he added.
Angela Merkel invites partners from all over the world to contribute to the project
Endowed by Germany with funding of 30 million euros per year at the moment, it will be part of the WHO, which believes that more funds will be needed.
The Berlin-based platform, which will likely open in September, will work with partners around the world to "
predict, prevent, detect, prepare for and respond to the risks of pandemics and epidemics around the world,
" explained WHO.
"
The Covid-19 pandemic has taught us that we can only fight together against pandemics and epidemics,
" said Angela Merkel for her part.
"
The new WHO Hub will be a global platform for pandemic prevention, bringing together various government, academic and private institutions.
I am delighted that WHO has chosen Berlin and I invite partners from all over the world to contribute
”to the project, she continued.
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Present at the press conference, Michael Ryan, director in charge of health emergencies at the WHO, said that the current WHO epidemic intelligence service (EIOS) was "
fantastic
": "
It is a system driven by artificial intelligence that allows very early detection of information that is already in the public domain
”. “
But our challenge is that it works when there is an epidemic,
” he said. And yet, "
there are signals that can occur before epidemics
", including data on mobility, climate and animals, which can better detect the threat.