WHO Official Suggests Taking Actions in 3 Key Areas to Fight Bird Flu
Posted on: Tuesday, 5 July 2005, 09:01 CDT
WHO official suggests taking actions in 3 key areas to fight bird flu
KUALA LUMPUR, July 4 (Xinhua) -- The fear of avian influenza becoming pandemic is not receding, but chances still exist to stop the virus by taking immediate actions in three key areas, a World Health Organization (WHO) official said here Monday.
WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific Shigeru Omi made the remarks at the opening ceremony of an international meeting on avian influenza and human health here.
Jointly organized by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), World Organization of Animal Health (OIE) and WHO, the three- day consultation is themed "Risk Reduction Measures in Producing, Marketing and Living with Animals in Asia".
The H5N1 virus has so far resisted all attempts to dislodge it from the environment and remains endemic across large parts of the Asian region, infecting not only humans but also migratory birds, poultry, geese, pigs, cats and tigers, Omi said.
Omi urged the international community and all governments of those affected countries to act vigorously and comprehensively in three key areas, noting "The time to do that is now, not when it is too late."
First, governments of those affected countries should provide more human and animal samples to share with international laboratories.
Second, WHO fully supports the policy of FAO and OIE of vaccinating birds as part of a comprehensive elimination strategy, including culling.
Third, the war against H5N1 in humans can not be won on the public health front only, and it must involve the interface between humans and animals and change the dangerous ways in which animals are raised and marketed for the table, Omi said.
About 90 experts, researchers and officials from FAO, OIE, WHO and other organizations attend the consultation, whose major objectives are to identify those dangerous practices in the production and marketing of live animals in Asia, assess how effectively current regulatory controls are and provide practical guidelines on how to improve regulatory controls on the production and marketing of live animals for food.
Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS
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