The World Health Organization (WHO) in cooperation with Germany will establish a new international hub combining intelligence, data, surveillance, and analytics innovation to predict and prevent global health threats, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday
GENEVA/BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th May, 2021) The World Health Organization (WHO) in cooperation with Germany will establish a new international hub combining intelligence, data, surveillance, and analytics innovation to predict and prevent global health threats, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday.
"The current Covid-19 pandemic has taught us that we can only fight pandemics and epidemics together. The new WHO Hub will be a global platform for pandemic prevention, bringing together various governmental, academic and private sector institutions. I am delighted that WHO chose Berlin as its location and invite partners from all around the world to contribute to the WHO hub," Merkel said, as cited by the WHO's statement.
According to the statement, the project is part of WHO's Health Emergencies Program, designed to bring nations and partners worldwide together to develop mechanisms for risk analysis, boost innovations to "increase availability and linkage of diverse data," and monitor disease control efforts across the globe.
The hub will also support local public experts in all countries in their efforts to rapidly "prevent and respond to future public health emergencies," according to the WHO.
According to German Health Minister Jens Spahn, the hub is set to start operating later this year.
Michael Ryan, the executive director of the WHO emergencies program, said the funding for the hub would be included in the WHO budget for 2022-2023.
