FAO calls for comprehensive global policy shift

By Keith Nuthall

- Last updated on GMT

FAO calls for policy shift on diseases
FAO calls for policy shift on diseases

Related tags Medicine Epidemiology Livestock

The United Nations’ Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has called for a comprehensive and global response from governments to limit the potential of the world’s growing meat and livestock sector to spread disease to human consumers.

Its report ‘World Livestock 2013: Changing Disease Landscapes’ notes that 70% of new diseases infecting humans in recent decades have come from animals. It warns that as the human and livestock population and food-supply chains grow, so does the risk of diseases jumping species (zoonoses).

For instance the SARS virus was transmitted from bats to masked palm civets and thence to humans via animal markets. The problem is worsened by growing resistance to antibiotics, partly promoted by their use in livestock.

A new holistic approach to managing disease threats is needed, as a result, says the FAO: Ren Wang, its assistant director-general for agriculture and consumer protection said: “What this means is that we cannot deal with human health, animal health, and ecosystem health in isolation from each other - we have to look at them together, and address the drivers of disease emergence, persistence and spread, rather than simply fighting back against diseases after they emerge.”

The report says more information is needed on potential species-jumping disease problems, through assessments, surveys, objective and forward looking analysis. This data should be circulated through dialogue and information exchange through Internet sites and expert networks.

This awareness raising needs to promote health-conscious innovations, “improving the way we produce, buy, sell and consume animal products – from ‘farm-to-fork’ – as well as enhancing how we jointly investigate and respond to health threats,”​ said the report. The result would be the development of comprehensive policy guidance aimed at this goal.

This will require global and local action: financiers, planners and natural resource managers must link decisions to health and food production needs, while policy-makers must consider how to influence urban trends so that the risks of spreading disease are minimised: “Veterinarians, physicians, economists, sociologists, and eco-health counterparts must jointly define the risk factors and drivers of today’s threats of animal origin,”​ it added. This would help identify geographical and industry areas requiring special surveillance and control.

Related topics Meat

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