21 October 2008
Egypt to Host Conference on Avian and Pandemic Influenza
Delegates meet October 24-26 to review progress, plan for long term
Washington — Amid a reduction in the numbers of people and wild and domesticated birds who have fallen victim in 2008 to highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza, delegates from 116 nations and 24 international organizations will meet in Egypt on October 24-26 to review progress and mobilize resources for a long-term response to avian and pandemic influenza.
The International Ministerial Conference on Avian and Pandemic Influenza, which will take place in Sharm el-Sheikh, is a collaboration among the Egyptian government, the European Union and the International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza.
The meeting also has support from the U.S. government, the European Commission and the United Nations system, including the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), the World Health Organization and UNICEF.
The government of Egypt has invited ministers of health and agriculture from 192 nations and representatives from international and regional organizations. To date, nearly 500 people have confirmed attendance.
“We all know the world will face another pandemic,” Paula Dobriansky, U.S. under secretary of state for democracy and global affairs, told America.gov. “Our continuing efforts to strengthen animal and human health infrastructure around the world to confront the avian flu threat have substantially enhanced global capacity — not only to deal with pandemics but also other emerging infectious diseases.”
Previous global gatherings to discuss avian flu have taken place in Washington (2005), Beijing (2006), Vienna, Austria (2006), Bamako, Mali (2006), and New Delhi (2007).
Dr. David Nabarro, U.N. system senior coordinator for avian and human influenza, told America.gov the meeting “is a political discussion designed for ministers of health and agriculture because we’ve realized for a long time that these two issues require strong political commitment from governments as well as the necessary technical support that the United Nations is able to give. So for us, this political discussion and the event are key.”
ANIMALS, PEOPLE AND DISEASE
In 1996, scientists isolated H5N1 from a farmed goose in Guangdong province, China. In 1997, H5N1 outbreaks occurred in poultry at farms and live-animal markets in Hong Kong, and the first known human infections occurred in 18 people, six of whom died.
Six years later, in 2003, outbreaks among poultry occurred in the Republic of Korea and Thailand, and the virus began to spread. To date, the H5N1 virus has killed and prompted the destruction of hundreds of millions of wild and domesticated birds in 61 countries and infected 387 people — 245 of them fatally — in 15 countries.
Around the world, governments, public health organizations, health care leaders, research institutions, emergency responders and many others have come together in an unprecedented way to bolster preparedness, disease surveillance, outbreak assessment, response and containment — and for the first time to ready nations in advance of a possible pandemic.
“Globally, the number of outbreaks in animals wild or domestic is decreasing,” OIE Director-General Bernard Vallat told America.gov. “This is very important. It means that efforts made at the national level by all countries and those made by the international community and donors have been useful.”
He added, “The majority of countries are ready to make early detection and rapid response, and even when an outbreak is starting, it is immediately stopped now.”
On preparedness for a human influenza pandemic, Nabarro said that “the situation is also quite promising. But when it comes to countries being ready for a pandemic — in particular ready for the social, economic and political implications of a pandemic — more work really has to be done, not just by individual countries but by countries working together.”
“The threat that a pandemic virus may emerge is serious and expected to persist,” said Ambassador John Lange, the State Department’s special representative on avian and pandemic influenza. “We must continue to work in partnership with other nations and international organizations to strengthen preparedness around the world.”
AT SHARM EL-SHEIKH
Meeting participants at Sharm el-Sheikh are expected to describe accomplishments to date and outline actions needed during 2009 at national, regional and global levels.
The agenda includes a review of best practices and challenges related to controlling H5N1 in animals and to pandemic preparedness and response, and the introduction of a long-term strategy for controlling avian flu and other diseases emerging at the animal-human interface.
“This meeting will join people in charge of animal health and public health, 50-50,” Vallat said. “And we will continue to try to influence all countries, donors and organizations to continue to support developing countries to improve their governance regarding animal health.”
Priorities for animal disease prevention, he added, include efficient networks for early detection and rapid response to outbreaks, collaboration among government and private veterinarians and farmers and programs in every country to compensate farmers whose infected animals must be killed to prevent or control an outbreak.
Nabarro said he would welcome discussions during the meeting about how work on avian flu and pandemic preparedness could become “mainstreamed” — or routinely incorporated — into animal health and human health work on a broad scale.
“We can’t go on treating this as an emergency issue,” he added. “And at the same time, I’m not sure that national health institutions or national animal health institutions are dealing with the issues in a sufficiently integrated and sustained way, particularly in poorer countries.”
More information about the International Ministerial Conference on Avian and Pandemic Influenza is available on the meeting Web site.
