World Health Organization Initiative to Estimate the Global Burden of Foodborne Diseases

Foodborne diseases are a multi-sectoral public health risk closely linked with the agricultural and animal health sectors. Many foodborne diseases are zoonotic in nature. The World Health Organization (WHO) seeks to measure for the first time the real impact of foodborne diseases through the advice of its independent expert body, the Foodborne Disease Burden Epidemiology Reference Group (FERG). Through the FERG, the WHO works on both assembling and appraising existing data as well as supporting countries in conducting their own studies into the national burden of foodborne disease. This is complemented by efforts to ensure thatthe findings are meaningful and useable to policy-makers and other research end-users to implement informed policy and interventions. For the Initiative to operate effectively and achieve its objectives, linkages and collaboration at all levels, especially at the human animal interface, need to be fostered.