News

[Formerly American Veterinary Epidemiology Society (AVES), 1965-2023]

August 2023

The American Veterinary One Health Society (AVOHS) hereby states its longstanding recognition of and strong endorsement for continued ProMED-mail national and international operations.

Notably, the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases (ProMED) is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID). ProMED was launched in 1994 as an Internet service to identify unusual health events related to emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases and toxins affecting humans, animals and plants. ProMED is the largest publicly-available system conducting global reporting of infectious disease outbreaks. Reports are produced and commentary provided by a multidisciplinary global team of subject matter expert (SME) Moderators in a variety of fields including virology, parasitology, epidemiology, entomology, veterinary and plant diseases. ProMED operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week so as to ensure early reporting in every time zone.

Over the last 28 years, thanks to the commitment of ProMED team members actively mining data across the globe, ProMed has been the first to report on numerous major and minor disease outbreaks and biothreats including SARS, Chikungunya, the early spread of Ebola and Zika, MERS, COVID-19 and many others. ProMED is an important and longstanding contributor to the global emerging and re-emerging infectious disease surveillance landscape.

New technologies such as artificial intelligence create unparalleled opportunities, but cannot replace the importance of expert human oversight of complex surveillance systems for early identification of infectious disease threats. The AVOHS Board Members encourage ISID, the parent company of ProMed-mail, to consult with its moderators who have the finger on the pulse and connections to community stakeholders.

We further encourage the thoughtful and informed development of a plan which will look for alternative ways to finance operations without jeopardizing scientific neutrality. This will allow an impartial search for truth without regard for the special interests of those affected. The AVOHS Board is willing to participate in meetings or other activities with the goal of finding the best means of sustaining the mission of ProMED for the future.

SEE: https://onehealthinitiative.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/AVOHS-statement-Endorsing-ProMED-mail-Continuance-2023-004.pdf

AVOHS President, Karen M. Becker, DVM, MPH

Note:     

Please see American Veterinary One Health Society (AVOHS): Announced as New Name With Logo Change by American Veterinary Epidemiology Society (AVES) Board – One Health Initiative; JAVMA News AVES announces name change to reflect One Health mission and Extraordinary ProMED Scientist Co-Founder/One Health Leader.