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Cook Islands Practices To Prevent Avian Flu
Wednesday: July 23, 2008
A series of workshops on infection control and exercises to test avian and pandemic influenza preparedness will be run in Rarotonga from Wednesday July 23 to Friday August 1, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) said in a release. These initiatives aim to increase Cook Islands? readiness for avian and pandemic influenza events and other threats of infectious diseases.
?The Pacific Islands, including the Cook Islands, are at risk of avian and pandemic influenza, like other parts of the world,? says Dr Roro Daniel, Secretary of Health, Cook Islands. ?Considering the limited resources shared by most Pacific Island countries and territories, it is critical that we test components of our pandemic preparedness plan and refine our capacity to effectively respond to these threats.?
Dr Seini Kupu, Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Specialist at the SPC, says, ?Although avian influenza is principally a disease of poultry, the H5N1 strain of the avian influenza virus has been confirmed as infecting humans. And out of the total confirmed human cases, about 60 per cent of them have died. It is possible that the H5N1 strain that is circulating around the world could become easily transmissible from one person to another, and if that occurs, there is a very high possibility of a global influenza pandemic.
?Some countries that are our very close neighbours, especially Indonesia, are already experiencing significant avian influenza outbreaks and have the highest human avian influenza infections case fatality rate of about 80 per cent, according to WHO (this means that for every 100 infected persons with H5N1, about 80 have died.) The disease could reach our shores.
?Pandemic influenza is a serious threat. We should not forget that the 1918 influenza pandemic proved devastating to several Pacific Island countries and territories, killing around 22?25 per cent of the population in Samoa and Tahiti, 6 per cent in Tonga, 16 per cent in Nauru and 5 per cent in Fiji and Guam.?
The Cook Islands Ministries of Health and Agriculture and other sectors, together with SPC, are collaborating on preparation for the workshop and the testing exercises. The first two days of the infection control workshop will be dedicated to health-care workers, and the third day is for non-health-sector personnel, including animal health-care workers, border control teams, and representatives from the Red Cross and other community groups.
?The application of strict infection control measures, such as regular hand-washing, play a vital role in the prevention and control of infectious diseases like influenza,? said Margaret Leong, Infection Control Specialist at SPC. ?These measures can be applied by anyone, not only those who work in the agriculture and health sectors.?
The infection control workshop will be followed by testing exercises involving mainly health-care workers and other relevant sectors, and will consist of responding to a scenario that will prompt the activation of a community-based assessment centre and the setting-up of an isolation area at the hospital for management of flu-like illness (where cases will be treated as pandemic influenza patients).
?These activities will help the Cook Islands to be better prepared for the rapid detection of and early response to any future disease outbreaks of significant magnitude or public health threats,? stresses Dr Kupu. ?They strengthen the health sector response and prepare the community for situations ? such as pandemic influenza ? where the impacts may be very serious, and assist in minimising the potential health and socioeconomic impacts.?
The exercises are being conducted under the Pacific Regional Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Project (PRIPPP), which has been implemented in the Pacific region since 2006 by SPC in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), with financial assistance from AusAID and NZAID.
Wednesday: July 23, 2008
A series of workshops on infection control and exercises to test avian and pandemic influenza preparedness will be run in Rarotonga from Wednesday July 23 to Friday August 1, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) said in a release. These initiatives aim to increase Cook Islands? readiness for avian and pandemic influenza events and other threats of infectious diseases.
?The Pacific Islands, including the Cook Islands, are at risk of avian and pandemic influenza, like other parts of the world,? says Dr Roro Daniel, Secretary of Health, Cook Islands. ?Considering the limited resources shared by most Pacific Island countries and territories, it is critical that we test components of our pandemic preparedness plan and refine our capacity to effectively respond to these threats.?
Dr Seini Kupu, Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Specialist at the SPC, says, ?Although avian influenza is principally a disease of poultry, the H5N1 strain of the avian influenza virus has been confirmed as infecting humans. And out of the total confirmed human cases, about 60 per cent of them have died. It is possible that the H5N1 strain that is circulating around the world could become easily transmissible from one person to another, and if that occurs, there is a very high possibility of a global influenza pandemic.
?Some countries that are our very close neighbours, especially Indonesia, are already experiencing significant avian influenza outbreaks and have the highest human avian influenza infections case fatality rate of about 80 per cent, according to WHO (this means that for every 100 infected persons with H5N1, about 80 have died.) The disease could reach our shores.
?Pandemic influenza is a serious threat. We should not forget that the 1918 influenza pandemic proved devastating to several Pacific Island countries and territories, killing around 22?25 per cent of the population in Samoa and Tahiti, 6 per cent in Tonga, 16 per cent in Nauru and 5 per cent in Fiji and Guam.?
The Cook Islands Ministries of Health and Agriculture and other sectors, together with SPC, are collaborating on preparation for the workshop and the testing exercises. The first two days of the infection control workshop will be dedicated to health-care workers, and the third day is for non-health-sector personnel, including animal health-care workers, border control teams, and representatives from the Red Cross and other community groups.
?The application of strict infection control measures, such as regular hand-washing, play a vital role in the prevention and control of infectious diseases like influenza,? said Margaret Leong, Infection Control Specialist at SPC. ?These measures can be applied by anyone, not only those who work in the agriculture and health sectors.?
The infection control workshop will be followed by testing exercises involving mainly health-care workers and other relevant sectors, and will consist of responding to a scenario that will prompt the activation of a community-based assessment centre and the setting-up of an isolation area at the hospital for management of flu-like illness (where cases will be treated as pandemic influenza patients).
?These activities will help the Cook Islands to be better prepared for the rapid detection of and early response to any future disease outbreaks of significant magnitude or public health threats,? stresses Dr Kupu. ?They strengthen the health sector response and prepare the community for situations ? such as pandemic influenza ? where the impacts may be very serious, and assist in minimising the potential health and socioeconomic impacts.?
The exercises are being conducted under the Pacific Regional Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Project (PRIPPP), which has been implemented in the Pacific region since 2006 by SPC in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), with financial assistance from AusAID and NZAID.
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