Prevention is better than cure: the WHO Pandemic Agreement must address spillover from wildlife trade and markets

The Jane Goodall Institute Global has joined a chorus of organisations and experts calling for an international pandemics instrument that prioritises primary prevention.?

An Open Letter addressed to the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body responsible for drafting and negotiating the World Health Organization Pandemic Agreement emphasises the need to explicitly address primary prevention and the root causes of zoonotic disease emergence, including wildlife trade and markets.??

Zara Bending, one of JGIG’s resident experts and representative to the Global Initiative to End Wildlife Crime who are first signatories of the Open Letter, shared the following:?

“Prevention is better than cure and as evidenced in the Open Letter, the cumulative costs of over a decade’s worth of preventative measures amount to a mere 2% of the expenses incurred due to COVID-19. Primary prevention should not be regarded aspirationally as the ‘gold standard’ for a pandemics instrument. It should be the non-negotiable starting point underpinning the instrument’s purpose and operation.”?

Wildlife trade and markets have been linked to disease outbreak and spillover to humans, and the potential for the next pandemic looms. The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) estimates some 1.7 million undiscovered viruses thought to exist in wild animals, of which approximately half could infect humans. Known disease transmission from non-human primates to humans alone includes: Shigella, Herpes B, Simian immunodeficiency Virus (SIV), Ebola, Marburg, Monkeypox, Influenza, Tuberculosis, Rabies and Alphaherpesvirus, which can cause fatal meningoencephalitis in humans.??

The Institute has long adopted a ‘One Health’ approach in its in situ Africa Programs conservation work which recognises that the health of humans, non-human animals, and our shared environment is inextricably linked. From administering world-class care to animals needing sanctuary, to advocating for responsible wildlife tourism, and driving efforts to combat wildlife trafficking, the Institute conducts its work mindful of the risks of zoonotic disease, particularly infection between humans and our fellow great apes. The biological similarities between humans and other great apes poses significant risk for disease spillover, and diseases have not only been known to transmit between great ape communities within the same species, but between great ape species including gorilla to chimpanzee and humans to non-human great apes.??

The Institute hopes that the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body will heed the call for a robust instrument and will continue to follow developments.??

The Jane Goodall Institute Global became an International Champion of EWC in 2020. The Initiative aims to support States in creating a global agreement on wildlife crime under the auspices of the United Nations Convention on Transnational Organized Crime; and to promote a ‘One Health’ approach to international wildlife trade to prevent future pandemics.??

The Jane Goodall Institute is also a member of the Coalition for Preventing Pandemics at the Source. ?