The director general of the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), Emmanuelle Soubeyran, stressed stronger surveillance and earlier detection as increasingly important in reducing public health risks.
Speaking to CGTN on Monday during WOAH's General Session in Paris, Soubeyran explained the growing focus on animal-to-human disease transmission as concerns over hantavirus and other zoonotic diseases continue to grow.
"There is a link between animal health and human health, and maybe the most important figures to understand that is that 75 percent of infectious emerging diseases for humans originate from animals. So that's why it's so important to have good surveillance systems in animals. It can be farm animals, but also wildlife animals," she said.
The director general also noted the importance of having good laboratory capacities in all countries.
"We also need to have standards, methods of diagnostics, and then we also need to have an information system in order that findings can be shared. It can be shared between animal health sectors, veterinary sector, and human health sectors to identify any potential problem for human," she said.
The WOAH is promoting cross-sectoral collaboration within the "One Health" framework to enhance animal surveillance, laboratory capacity and information sharing.
"We already collaborate with WHO. We are in constant discussion with them. We are participating to a lot of meetings with them, and we all exchange a lot of information with them. And in fact, not only with them, in the quadripartite, we work very closely with FAO and also with UNEP. So this is the One Health approach, as you know, because there is a lot of interconnection between animal-human environment," said Soubeyran.
WOAH chief on stronger surveillance against animal disease spillover risks
Amid the rising fuel costs and airline surcharges linked to the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, Caribbean tourism officials gathered at the 44th Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association Forum this month and expressed cautious optimism, citing resilient visitor demand, strategic marketing adjustments, and strong seasonal performance as foundations for continued recovery.
The U.S.-Israeli war against Iran is already affecting Caribbean economies as fuel prices surge and airlines pass costs on to passengers. This not only pressures the region's tourism-dependent economies but also raises the cost of imported food, electricity, and transportation.
Since the start of the conflict, the price of Brent crude has surged nearly 50 percent, prompting airlines to find the ways to share the burden with travelers.
"The impacts are unfolding in stages. In the first place, when the uncertainty, or the disturbance occurred in the Middle Eastern region, it actually cut the supply chain to some extent to the Pacific, and people started to look at the region in particular. We amplified out marketing presence, to ensure that when people are looking for an option or places to rebook, that St. Lucia would turn up. And we've actually seen some of that result," said Louis Lewis, chief executive officer of the Saint Lucia Tourism Authority.
During the International Monetary Fund's Spring Meeting, the international financial institution expressed its concern for Caribbean tourism, warning that it could see a decline as ticket prices increase.
Lewis acknowledged the potential for longer-term disruption.
"The second thing is that if the conflict continues as a prolonged activity, we anticipate that it could impact us. We will have to diversify from our major source markets, hence the reason why we are looking at Latin America," he said.
But some of the region's top tourism officials are seeing positive signs. The region is coming off another successful year, where tourism arrivals grew by 2.5 percent, adding an additional 900,000 visitors over 2024.
"The region has been witnessing a very good winter season, and I have no doubt whatsoever that the forecast that we have for the summer will continue to be very strong," said Ian Gooding-Edghill, minister of tourism of Barbados.
Still, structural vulnerabilities remain. As an import-dependent region, the Caribbean is highly exposed to global price fluctuations. Concerns are mounting that rising prices in the United States could trigger sharper inflationary pressures, including higher operating costs in the tourism sector.
"In Saint Lucia, we just saw the cost of energy increase about 20 percent, and that's having an impact now going into the summer when our rates are lower. It rallies points to the importance of us building a bit more resilience into Caribbean tourism," said Sanovnik Destang, president of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association.
Caribbean tourism shows resilience despite Middle East tension challenges
Caribbean tourism shows resilience despite Middle East tension challenges
