Strengthening health and agri-food systems must go
hand-in-hand

Health and agri-food systems must be strengthened and improved
to counter the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and to avoid a global food
crisis, the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations (FAO), QU Dongyu, said today.

"Beyond jeopardizing human health, the pandemic is also
disrupting our agri-food systems that are the core to our health and
life," the FAO Director-General told world leaders at the virtual Global
Health Summit of the G20.  "We need to take immediate
action, to avoid a global food crisis with long-term impacts." 

The Summit was co-hosted by the European Commission President,
Ursula von der Leyen, and Italian Prime Minister, Mario Draghi, as Italy holds
the current chair of the G20. In addition, the leaders of the G20 countries, heads of
international and regional organizations, private enterprise and global health
bodies were invited to share lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The Summit endorsed the ‘Rome Declaration' calling for urgent action to
scale up equitable vaccine distribution and access for the world's poorest and
most vulnerable.

"The pandemic will only be over once everyone is
safe," stressed the FAO Director-General.  "Sharing lessons
learned, strengthening multilateral cooperation and developing joint actions,
such as adopting the Rome Declaration, will pave the way to this common
goal."

Qu said that efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) have been critically compromised by the pandemic, noting that
about 150 million people are currently projected to fall into extreme poverty
and food insecurity.   

He highlighted FAO's action through its flagship Hand-in-Hand
Initiative, which focuses on vulnerable countries (SIDS, LDCs and LLDCs),
and drew attention to the organization's  COVID-19 Response and Recovery Programme, which
FAO established to address the pandemic's socio-economic impacts.

Italy's Draghi said the pandemic showed no sign of abating and
noted that only 0.3 percent of the world's 1.5 billion vaccine doses had been
administered in low-income countries. 

The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres,
expressed concern about a "two-speed response" to the pandemic,
noting the inequality of vaccine distribution and recent COVID-19 surges in
India, South America and other regions. 

"Vaccinating quickly and thoroughly around the world,
together with continued public health measures, are the only way to end the
pandemic and prevent more dangerous variants from gaining a foothold,"
Guterres said. 

The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros
Adhanom Ghebreyesus, also noted the inequities of the current vaccine rollout
and warned the Summit that COVID-19 would not be the last pandemic. He said
that bold leadership and commitments are needed to ensure a safer future for
everyone on the planet.

One Health Approach

Underscoring the importance of collaboration, FAO's
Director-General pointed to the newly created One Health High-Level Expert
Panel, launched earlier in the week. "The Tripartite of FAO, WHO and OIE
together with UNEP, IAEA, World Bank Group and others, join the G20 and other
Members in the different initiatives to enhance the One Health approach. Global
promotion through the Global Action Plan on One Health and its High-Level
Expert Panel are important steps," he said.

The One Health Approach recognizes the links between
the health of people, animals, and the environment and highlights the need for
specialists in multiple sectors to address any health threats and prevent
disruption to agri-food systems.

"Global health security and food security must be for all -
with no-one left behind," the Director-General said.

The Rome Declaration highlighted the importance of investing in
early warning information, surveillance and trigger systems, in line with the
One Health Approach, as well as in research and innovation. It also underlined
the urgent need to scale up efforts, supporting synergies between the public
and private sectors, to ensure timely, global and equitable access to safe and
affordable COVID-19 vaccines and other tools.

http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/1401695/icode/