• Most recent infectious disease outbreaks including Covid-19, dengue fever, anthrax, Ebola, SARS, MERS, HIV, and Rift Valley fever, were caused by pathogens that originated from animals.
• The health body warned that the improved transportation system is likely to increase the threat of zoonotic pathogens travelling to urban areas.
Image: FILE
Kenya is facing a high risk of disease outbreaks transmitted from animals to humans, the World Health Organisation has warned.
This follows a 63 per cent rise in animal to humans disease transmission across the continent in the last 10 years.
WHO Regional Director for Africa Dr Matshidiso Moeti said there has been a growing demand for food derived from animals such as meat, poultry, eggs and milk.
Most recent infectious disease outbreaks including Covid-19, dengue fever, anthrax, Ebola, SARS, MERS, HIV, and Rift Valley fever, were caused by pathogens that originated from animals.
WHO attributed the phenomenon to poor infrastructure which normally act as a natural barrier to the spread of diseases.
The health body warned that the improved transportation system is likely to increase the threat of zoonotic pathogens travelling to urban areas.
“Road, rail, boat and air links are also improving across Africa increasing the risk of zoonotic disease outbreaks spreading from remote areas where there are few inhabitants to large urban areas,” Moeti said.
She said the movements to urban ares also increase human activities that disrupt ecosystems, encroach on habitats, and further drive climate change.
"The population growth is also leading to rising urbanisation and encroachment on the habitats of wildlife,” Moeti said on Sunday.
The WHO is now calling for more research to identify environmental, socioeconomic, and cultural factors that boost the emergence and transmission of epidemic-prone diseases and to understand the factors that affect the impact and spread of epidemics, including the immune status, nutrition, genetic and antimicrobial resistance.
Data shows there was a 63 per cent increase in the number of zoonotic outbreaks in the region in the decade from 2012-2022 compared to 2001-2011.
The analysis by WHO finds that between 2001- 2022 there were 1,843 substantiated public health events recorded in the WHO African region, and 30 per cent being zoonotic disease outbreaks.
WHO notes that there was a spike in 2019 and 2020 when zoonotic pathogens represented around 50 per cent of public health events with dengue fever, anthrax, plague, monkeypox and a range of other diseases making up 30 per cent of the events.
“We Zoonotic diseases are caused by spillover events from animals to humans. Only when we break down the walls between disciplines can we tackle all aspects of the response.”
The agency also recommends a one-health approach which requires multiple sectors, disciplines, and communities to work in collaboration.
This includes a wide range of experts, including those working in human, animal and environmental health.
Routine disease surveillance information and response activities for both animal and human health should be shared among epidemiologists and other public health experts.