The world’s leading democracies are to work together to combat the growing threat from zoonotic infection, it was announced today.
The G7 group of nations collaboration will also seek to tackle threats from climate change and pollution, such as the risk of drug-resistant microbes spreading through ocean plastics.
The G7 groups says that three fifths of new infections now develop through jumping from animals to humans – and these must be identified earlier.
The health ministers from the seven countries are meeting in Oxford, UK, today to agree details of the collaboration.
The group claims to have played a key role in improving health in developing countries, citing a new report, the Carbis Bay progress report, which sets out actions since the group agreed, in 2015, to intervene following the Ebola outbreak in Africa.
It claims success in expanding access to vaccines and helping developing countries to train, recruit and retain health workers – as well as helping tacking outbreaks of infectious disease.
This has led to an emphasis on strengthening local health systems in aid programmes, the report says – and this is now 47% of all health aid, an increase from 38%.
The G7 says it has helped 74 countries comply with international health regulations aimed at responding to disease outbreaks.
UK health secretary Matt Hancock said: “We need to make better use of advances in our ability to collect, analyse, and share health data from all aspects of life, enabling faster collaboration to respond to health security threats and stop diseases in their tracks.
“The UK and our partners in the G7 have a strong track record of working together to support each other and protect the most vulnerable. As I gather with my ministerial counterparts, we have an opportunity to learn from this pandemic to collectively build back better and safeguard our global health security.”
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