WHO Scientific Advisory Group on the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO) established

The World Health Organisation (WHO) established the Scientific Advisory Group on the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO) as part of their OneHealth initiative.  A call went out for experts on August 20, 2021, they held their first meeting on November 23, 2021.

Justified becasue of the alleged “rapid emergence and spread of SARS-CoV-2” which “highlighted the importance of being prepared for any future event, to be able to identify novel pathogens early and to address the risk factors that contribute to their emergence and spread” [2]

SAGO’s mission is to “advise the Secretariat on technical and scientific considerations regarding emerging and re-emerging pathogens, and will be composed of experts acting in a personal capacity”.

• August 20, 2021 SAGO’s Terms of Refrence were published, and a call went out seeking “experts” to join, to be finalised by September 10, 2021
• November 23, 2021 they held their first meeting [1, 3]
• Preliminary reports released in 2022 and 2023 – HERE
• September 4, 2024 – WHO launched SAGO’s global framework to help Member States comprehensively investigate the origins of new and re-emerging pathogens. It’s the “first unified, structured approach to investigating the origins of a novel pathogen”. [4]