Testing Asia's readiness for bird flu
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
ASEAN, Japan and the World Health Organisation will conduct a two-day exercise next week to test Asia's ability to stem a bird flu pandemic, the UN agency said here yesterday.
The exercise involves a scenario in which a strain of bird flu with a human pandemic potential is discovered in Cambodia.
Tamiflu and protective equipment such as goggles and masks have to be swiftly dispatched from a stockpile managed by a private contractor in Singapore to Cambodia.
The exercise will be run from the WHO Western Pacific office in Manila and would be the first-ever test of the region's capability to "respond rapidly to signs of a pandemic and to snuff it out", the WHO said.
The drill will be a test of rapid containment, involving risk assessment, communications and decision-making. No supplies will actually be moved, it added.
The WHO says there have been 281 cases of human bird flu infection and 169 deaths worldwide, mostly in Southeast Asia.
Scientists fear the H5N1 strain could mutate into a form easily spread among humans, leading to a global pandemic with the potential to kill millions.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and Japan would also take part in the WHO-led exercise. Tokyo has provided Asean — which groups Brunei, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam — with half a million courses of Tamiflu, plus a large quantity of personal protective equipment, all of it stockpiled in Singapore.
The exercise is expected to yield practical information for all parties about the efficiency of procedures, discover gaps in planning and identify opportunities for efficient rapid containment, the WHO said.
AFP
The exercise involves a scenario in which a strain of bird flu with a human pandemic potential is discovered in Cambodia.
Tamiflu and protective equipment such as goggles and masks have to be swiftly dispatched from a stockpile managed by a private contractor in Singapore to Cambodia.
The exercise will be run from the WHO Western Pacific office in Manila and would be the first-ever test of the region's capability to "respond rapidly to signs of a pandemic and to snuff it out", the WHO said.
The drill will be a test of rapid containment, involving risk assessment, communications and decision-making. No supplies will actually be moved, it added.
The WHO says there have been 281 cases of human bird flu infection and 169 deaths worldwide, mostly in Southeast Asia.
Scientists fear the H5N1 strain could mutate into a form easily spread among humans, leading to a global pandemic with the potential to kill millions.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and Japan would also take part in the WHO-led exercise. Tokyo has provided Asean — which groups Brunei, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam — with half a million courses of Tamiflu, plus a large quantity of personal protective equipment, all of it stockpiled in Singapore.
The exercise is expected to yield practical information for all parties about the efficiency of procedures, discover gaps in planning and identify opportunities for efficient rapid containment, the WHO said.
AFP
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