Guinea Resilience System

Humans have been “acquiring” infectious diseases from animals (zoonotic diseases) since we first started hunting wild game on the African savannahs. Indeed, nearly 60% of bugs that infect humans originated in animals.

GENEVA—

The World Health Assembly has approved reforms that will increase the U.N. health agency's ability to respond rapidly and more effectively to health emergencies. In Geneva, a panel of experts discussed how new measures will help countries tackle emergencies, such as Ebola, Zika, and yellow fever.

Material to prevent Zika infection by mosquitoes are displayed at the 69th World Health Assembly at the United Nations European headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, May 23, 2016

  A company with a swarm of genetically modified mosquitoes wants   the Food and Drug Administrationto grant emergency approval for   the controversial insects' use in the fight against the Zika virus.

 Oxitec changed the DNA of the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that    spread the virus so their offspring die before adulthood, Hadyn  Parry, the British company's CEO, told the House of    Representatives' Committee on Science, Space, and Technology in Washington on Wednesday. The company deploys only male mosquitoes, which cannot bite, to halt transmission of the disease, he added.

"I don’t think time is on our side with Zika," Parry said.

Resilience is one of those buzzwords that every so often captures the hearts and minds of development practitioners. The importance of this particular term, though, becomes all too clear as the world faces an increasing number of humanitarian crises, including outbreaks that can turn into pandemics.