International Zoonoses Community of Experts (IZCE)
Published 21 May 2021
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About the group
The International Zoonoses Community of Experts (IZCE) is a voluntary initiative that will consist of G7 and guest countries’ experts in zoonotic disease, drivers of emerging disease, and biodiversity loss from across government agencies, to facilitate international collaboration and capacity building, surveillance and analysis and improved technology.
Designed as an informal discussion group, each person would be a national contact point for disseminating information. This would encourage better trust, understanding, increased knowledge and compliance with international standards for disease reporting, improving analysis on the impact of new emerging threats and sharing risk assessment methodology and outcomes.
Communication will not solely focus on pandemics or crisis events as these will be covered by the international organisations such as the Tripartite Plus. The International Zoonoses Community of Experts will enable communication at working level, most likely about potential threats to public health where the analysis is still in its infancy.
The UK will provide the Secretariat for the first three years, establishing and maintaining a contact list of relevant experts, allowing easy and rapid communication between experts across the G7, and guest countries, and after establishment could be expanded to the G20 and beyond.
The points of contact for each country will collaborate using a suitable platform to be set up by the UK secretariat – for example email or MS teams – through which information can be shared. This will be an informal forum for sharing information when a new emerging threat is identified in one or other of the member countries and experts can use this platform to reach out for advice or discussion more broadly.
The Community will seek to address the intra-government communication gap on rapid sharing of emerging issues at a technical level in a timely manner. Currently it can be difficult to locate the correct point of contact globally and important information therefore takes longer to communicate. The G7 and other members will be well placed to address this gap, improving global collaboration across disciplines and strengthening the One Health approach.
Next steps
The UK will invite G7 and guest countries to provide a point of contact, identify a suitable platform and initiate the International Zoonosis Community of Experts directly after the Climate and Environment Ministerial meeting.
After establishment, the International Zoonoses Community of Experts may be expanded to the G20 and beyond, to broaden the expertise and information shared and improve communication globally.
The International Zoonoses Community of Experts will be regularly reviewed as the One Health landscape continues to develop and new initiatives emerge, to ensure it continues to provide the benefits outlined.