Advancing Planetary Health in Australia: focus on emerging infections and antimicrobial resistance

Hill-Cawthorne, Grant; Negin, Joel; Capon, Tony; Gilbert, Gwendolyn L; Nind, Lee; Nunn, Michael; Ridgway, Patricia; Schipp, Mark; Firman, Jenny; Sorrell, Tania C; Marais, Ben J

Strengthening of public health systems, especially in low-income and middle-income countries, is essential to achieve core IHR capacities. The Australian Government's Health for Development Strategy 2015-2020 articulated most of the important elements required for a comprehensive regional response, 23 but Australia's BMJ Global Health international aid budget has declined to its lowest level in many decades; falling well short of international targets. 24 Effective implementation of the joint external evaluation process in the Asia-Pacific region has provided a valuable overview of country-level preparedness, but it needs to be combined with the World Organisation of Animal Health (OIE) Evaluation of Performance of Veterinary Services assessment to improve One Health surveillance, while ongoing monitoring is essential to ensure that identified capacity gaps are addressed and best practices shared. 24 25 It is predictable that EIDs will escalate in frequency. Although much effort has been expended in developing pandemic preparedness policies, recent experiences with SARS and MERS-CoV demonstrated that even the most advanced medical systems require continued vigilance linked to careful scenario response planning. [25] [26] [27] Epidemic outbreaks, or even the perceived threat of an epidemic, usually lead to a flurry of activity, but lessons learnt and interim policies developed are rarely consolidated during interepidemic periods. Successful policy implementation requires an expert panel that represents all relevant disciplines, to work with the Commonwealth Office of Health Protection to draft national guidelines and monitor implementation of actions to reduce the likelihood and negative impact of EIDs. It could also oversee the drafting of generic research proposals to test interventions and generate enhanced insight during epidemic outbreaks.