By Lenah Bosibori
Experts have raised alarm on the increase of zoonotic diseases saying that human activities are increasingly driving the rise of these diseases through encroaching wildlife habitats due to a rapid increase in urbanization and food systems.
Speaking at a Civil Society Organization (CSO) convening in Nairobi organized by HENNET, Aggrey Aluso, Director of the Africa Region Pandemic Action Network, said Africa is experiencing more frequent outbreaks than before due to human activities like urbanization and our food systems.
“We are witnessing more frequent outbreaks than before. Last year, Africa CDC recorded 167 public health events, and many were zoonotic diseases, primarily influenced by the transmission of pathogens from animals to humans,” said Aluso. “For a long time, we’ve only focused on the human side of these issues, but the source of many of these pathogens lies in animals.”
Zoonotic diseases are infectious diseases that are transmitted from animals to humans. These diseases can be caused by bacteria, viruses, parasites, or fungi leading to a direct transmission either through direct contact with animals, through vectors like ticks or mosquitoes, or by consuming contaminated food or water.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is estimated that, globally, about one billion cases of illness and millions of deaths occur every year from zoonoses. Some 60% of emerging infectious diseases that are reported globally are zoonoses. Over 30 new human pathogens have been detected in the last three decades, 75% of which have originated in animals. The emerging zoonoses are a growing public health threat in the Eastern Mediterranean Region of WHO. Zoonotic disease: emerging public health threats in the Region | RC61
All countries in the region are at risk from these diseases, and cross-border outbreaks occur frequently.
Aluso added that urbanization in Africa is too rapid citing that in the next few years everybody will live in the urban areas. “In the 1980s and mid-19s, people living in Utawala and Mihango could see lions on the way but nowadays that is not the case,” said Aluso.
“We have encroached into the animals forcing them to live with us, most of our habitats are now in animals, then there is pressure for human habitation and clearing of the forests that is creating challenges for the animals coming to live with us.”
He urged governments to prepare because people should know the state of preparedness in understanding where this is coming from and putting the focus in terms of actively managing the risks. After all, if they are left to nature or to chance then people will continue having disruptive lives.
Talking of the recent Mpox (Monkeypox) outbreak in Kenya, Aluso warned that the virus poses a significant threat due to its ease of transmission, even worse than HIV/AIDS, which is primarily sexually transmitted. He stated that Mpox can spread through casual contact, such as kissing or sharing beddings, making it a more immediate concern.
HIV is mostly sexual but Mpox is transmitted through sex, sharing of beddings with people who have it, and many more,” he said.
He however pointed out that most of the countries in the world are not prepared as they should be. “What we saw from Covid 19 is a very alarming scenario that the world is not as prepared as it should be, the virus does not need passports to travel as humans do,” we need to work on showing global solidarity in pandemic response and economic response,” he added.
He added that the One Health approach is important in how we assess these challenges. “One Health approach is very important because it integrates environmental and animal health to better understand and mitigate the risks of zoonotic disease transmission,” said Aluso.
He also pointed out that climate change exacerbates these risks, with rising temperatures shifting the behaviour and spread of pathogens.
“The pressure for human habitation and deforestation is forcing animals into closer contact with humans, increasing the risk of disease transmission,” Aluso explained. “Understanding the origins of these diseases and actively managing the associated risks is crucial to prevent future disruptions to our lives.”
According to him, Africa has a big challenge in terms of our vulnerable health. “Our healthy systems have been largely vertical, meaning that we have specific responses to particular areas like TB, HIV, but lack support in the detection of new diseases,” he said. “We cannot also be able to know that we are dealing with a new disease even at community level.”
“Our health is very disease-specific in terms of civilian capacity, we have very weak cross-border disease surveillance capabilities. Our laboratory capacity is very low, Africa cannot also produce medical countermeasures,” he reiterated.
Aluso further called upon governments to train human resources and have the capacity ready to train people who can be deployed and also have countermeasures capacity so that when we have an outbreak we deploy and we contain them before they get out.