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Global UN Strategy Directed at Bird Flu Disease Called an International Crisis

Posted on: Wednesday, 6 July 2005, 12:01 CDT

In response to the possibility of a worldwide avian influenza pandemic, UN experts convening here unveiled on Tuesday the most comprehensive global strategy to date to address the current crisis in Asia and to prepare other regions for similar outbreaks. By combining a new global framework with current programs, the United Nations hopes to underscore the global nature of the bird flu crisis and outline successful measures to improve disease control programs, the report said. The draft plan, which focuses on animal health care, will be applied in conjunction with a parallel plan focused on human care now being produced by the UN's World Health Organization. The draft calls for coordinated surveillance efforts, greater transparency from affected countries and the continued use of tools that have proven successful against the spread of the bird flu virus, such as vaccination. Affected countries, including China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Cambodia, are specifically addressed in the draft plan, but national strategies will be in line with a global vision, Dr. Joseph Domenech, the chief of the Animal Health Service for the Food and Agriculture Organization, said Tuesday.

The draft plan focuses on Asia, where the crisis has been deadly and fast expanding, but "Africa, America and Europe will also be covered in due time through a series of consultations to make the strategy truly global," the report said.

Over the past two years, bird flu outbreaks throughout Asia have killed more than 50 people, left 140 million birds dead and disrupted the fragile economies of the region.

"It's an international crisis," Domenech said, because the bird flu outbreak could reach any corner of the world by way of international trade and transportation. In recent years, the virus has surfaced sporadically in North America, Africa and Europe.

There is no evidence that the highly pathogenic bird flu virus is easily transmissible between humans, but health experts are concerned that the volatile virus, which has surfaced across Asia in various strains, could mutate and trigger a global pandemic. Such a pandemic could kill millions of people, World Health Organization officials said. As health experts faced growing evidence that the virus was far more complex and resilient than they initially thought, the need for a global response was clear, officials said.

The new draft plan will help governments and UN bodies address the problem at national, regional and international levels, the report said. At the regional level, the UN plans to create three subregional bird flu support centers in Asia to coordinate information and surveillance efforts between countries.

"These regional networks will provide the lead in the development of harmonized technical standards and regional policies," the report said.

The draft plan also calls for the creation of a new "global framework," which will help coordinate resources between the subregional networks and national programs and provide technical support. By synchronizing surveillance efforts and increasing the sharing of information and technical expertise, health experts and government officials will be able to track the virus's movement and identify new strategies to prevent its spread. The installation of regional and global frameworks will also help prepare regions outside Asia to handle bird flu outbreaks. The Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Organization for Animal Health created the draft plan in collaboration with the World Health Organization after health experts and donors called for the creation of a comprehensive strategy with a global vision at a regional UN conference in Vietnam earlier this year, Domenech said. Eradicating the bird flu virus should be possible because Asian governments appear to have the political will to combat the crisis, and sophisticated equipment or highly trained people are not necessary at the national level to manage the problem, Dr. Teruhide Fujita, the World Organization for Animal Health regional representative, said.

Source: International Herald Tribune

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