Amazon countries strengthen cooperation to tackle emerging zoonotic diseases

Brasilia, Brazil, 7 November 2025 (PAHO) - Nine countries from the Amazon Basin and the Darién Corridor agreed on new actions to strengthen regional health security by improving surveillance, preparedness, and response to emerging zoonotic diseases - those that can be transmitted from animals to humans. The agreement strengthens regional cooperation under the One Health approach.

During the fourth technical meeting of the Amazon-Darién Network for Emerging Zoonoses with Epidemic Potential (RADE), partners defined the guidelines for the upcoming RADE Action Plan 2026-2028. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) coordinated the meeting, held in October in Macapá, Brazil, with representatives from the ministries of health, agriculture, and environment of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Panama, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela, as well as national and international partners,

This action plan will guide joint efforts in preparedness, surveillance systems, laboratory capacity, modeling, and epidemiological intelligence.

The meeting also marked the official launch of RADE, a technical cooperation platform aimed at anticipating and containing zoonotic threats before they become public health emergencies. As part of the Network's first General Assembly, participants adopted its statute and governance structure, establishing a permanent space for coordination between the human, animal, and environmental health sectors.

"Strengthening integrated surveillance in the Amazon and the Darién not only protects the countries of South America and the Mesoamerican Isthmus but also reinforces regional health security against future epidemics and pandemics," said Sylvain Aldighieri, Director of Communicable Disease Prevention, Control and Elimination at PAHO.

Additionally, technical working groups were created in four priority areas - laboratory, surveillance, preparedness, and intelligence and modeling - along with three cross-cutting pillars focused on intersectoral and international coordination, risk communication, and capacity building.

RADE will also promote applied research, technical exchanges among laboratories, and joint training for professionals across the nine member countries, fostering mutual learning and strengthening national capacities.

"RADE is emerging as a unique mechanism for transnational and intersectoral cooperation, facilitating the exchange of experiences for early detection and response to emerging pathogens among the nine member countries," highlighted Alexander Rosewell, Health Emergencies Advisor at PAHO Brazil, which serves as the Network's Technical Secretariat.

The meeting was supported by the regional PROTECT project, financed by the Pandemic Fund, which aims to strengthen prevention, preparedness, and response to emerging and re-emerging zoonotic threats in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Amazon-Darién Network thus consolidates itself as a strategic mechanism to enhance regional health security by integrating knowledge and capacities to address emerging zoonotic diseases - one of the main threats to health and sustainable development in Latin America.