Whereas the spread of zoonotic diseases from non-sapient beings to sapient beings poses an extraordinary danger to public health and leaves persons in member nations at risk of death, maiming, and loss of mental faculties; and
Whereas such spread is made possible, in large part, by the existence of natural reservoirs of such diseases; and
Whereas this august body has on past occasions (see, e.g., GA#389, "Rights of the Quarantined" and GA#518, "Reducing Disease Vectors") acted to reduce the prevalence and effect of infectious diseases in areas subject to its control; and
Whereas eradication of harmful zoonotic diseases is fundamentally impossible without addressing the prevalence of such diseases in their natural reservoirs, as even a successful containment campaign among sapients would not preclude a later resurgence of a zoonotic disease: now, therefore,
The World Assembly, in this present session convened, hereby enacts as follows:
- In this Resolution:
- a "zoonotic disease" is a disease which is known to be transmitted from a non-sapient being to a sapient being and poses a substantial risk to the health or welfare of a sapient species, or of sapient populations as a whole; and
- a "natural reservoir" is any non-sapient being which is capable of carrying a zoonotic disease.
- Each member nation shall:
- conduct and keep current a survey of all populations of natural reservoir species in such nation and of all zoonotic diseases which have been recorded or observed in such nation, and share such survey with the World Health Authority (WHA);
- require all natural reservoirs kept for domestic or commercial purposes to be immunized against all relevant zoonotic diseases for which there exists an accessible immunization, and to be treated for any zoonotic disease which is found to be present in such a reservoir;
- effectively and conspicuously warn persons travelling to areas populated by natural reservoirs of the relative risk that the reservoirs present in such areas present for the transmission of zoonotic diseases;
- test all natural reservoirs which are imported to or exported from such nation for zoonotic diseases, and treat, deny entry to, or humanely destroy any reservoir found to be carrying any zoonotic disease;
- forbid persons infected with a zoonotic disease to live or work in close proximity to a natural reservoir which is capable of carrying that same zoonotic disease, unless the risk of such a person becoming a vector of transmission is at a de minimis level;
- impose regulations on the consumption for food of natural reservoirs, including the testing of such reservoirs for zoonotic diseases before sale or consumption, and a prohibition of the sale or consumption of any reservoir which tests positive for any zoonotic disease;
- test all persons entering such nation who have recently been present in an area populated by natural reservoirs for all zoonotic diseases which a person travelling to such area may reasonably have acquired and which are not endemic to the testing nation, and provide appropriate treatment to any person who tests positive for such a disease; and
- ensure that populations which rely on natural reservoirs for food or other purposes are not adversely impacted by the actions undertaken pursuant to this section, if doing so does not substantially jeopardize any such action or create a health risk beyond a de minimis level.
- Section 2(b) shall not apply in the case of a zoonotic disease in which the WHA has determined that the potential risk of creating more resistant, virulent, or harmful variants exceeds the benefit of reducing prevalence and transmission among natural reservoirs. In such a case, all other provisions of this Resolution shall apply.
- In the case of pathogen which causes a zoonotic disease and which is itself infected with a zoonotic disease, actions undertaken pursuant to section 2 shall prioritize the treatment and isolation of the zoonotic disease which is deemed by the WHA to pose the greater risk to sapient health and wellbeing. Determinations under this section shall be applied uniformly, when possible.
- The WHA shall:
- liaise with member nations and collect information on the location of natural reservoirs and the zoonotic diseases present in each member nation;
- provide technical assistance to nations in carrying out the mandates in section 2; and
- maintain a central database of all confirmed cases nonsapient-to-sapient transmission of zoonotic diseases in member nations, except that such database shall not be made publicly available and shall not contain any personally identifying information.
