Gert van der Hoek
In Memoriam - Editor, Senior Moderator
Indonesian leader calls for contingency plans to deal with possible bird flu pandemic
The Associated PressPublished: November 17, 2006
HANOI, Vietnam: Indonesia's president Friday urged Pacific Rim countries to intensify efforts to fight bird flu and draw up contingency plans to cope with an economic backlash if the disease becomes pandemic.
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, speaking to business executives at a conference ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum meetings this weekend, warned that the bird flu virus has the potential to spread from human to human although there were still no signs of such transmission.
"We must develop comprehensive national preparedness plans, strengthen surveillance systems, build laboratory networks and intensify regional and international cooperation," Yudhoyono said in his speech.
The H5N1 virus has killed at least 153 people worldwide since it began ravaging Asian poultry stocks in late 2003, with well over a third of the human deaths in Indonesia, according to the World Health Organization.
Most of those killed have been infected by domestic fowl, but WHO fears the virus could mutate into a form that easily spreads among humans, sparking a pandemic with the potential to kill millions. Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country and home to millions of backyard chickens, would be vulnerable under such conditions.
Yudhoyono said regional countries must be prepared for a bird flu pandemic by drawing up contingency plans and cooperative measures to ensure their economies would not be ravaged.
"We must not limit ourselves to fighting the disease itself. We must find ways of ensuring that economies affected by the disease will still have access to export markets," he said.
"In brief, APEC should prevent avian flu from becoming another non-tariff barrier."
Leaders from the 21-member APEC, gathering in Hanoi for their annual summit, are expected to endorse a plan to fight bird flu and cooperate in improving regional pandemic preparedness with enhanced surveillance, improved infrastructure and expanded technical collaboration, according to a draft of the final statement to be released this weekend.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/11/17/asia/AS_GEN_APEC_Indonesia_Bird_Flu.php
The Associated PressPublished: November 17, 2006
HANOI, Vietnam: Indonesia's president Friday urged Pacific Rim countries to intensify efforts to fight bird flu and draw up contingency plans to cope with an economic backlash if the disease becomes pandemic.
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, speaking to business executives at a conference ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum meetings this weekend, warned that the bird flu virus has the potential to spread from human to human although there were still no signs of such transmission.
"We must develop comprehensive national preparedness plans, strengthen surveillance systems, build laboratory networks and intensify regional and international cooperation," Yudhoyono said in his speech.
The H5N1 virus has killed at least 153 people worldwide since it began ravaging Asian poultry stocks in late 2003, with well over a third of the human deaths in Indonesia, according to the World Health Organization.
Most of those killed have been infected by domestic fowl, but WHO fears the virus could mutate into a form that easily spreads among humans, sparking a pandemic with the potential to kill millions. Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country and home to millions of backyard chickens, would be vulnerable under such conditions.
Yudhoyono said regional countries must be prepared for a bird flu pandemic by drawing up contingency plans and cooperative measures to ensure their economies would not be ravaged.
"We must not limit ourselves to fighting the disease itself. We must find ways of ensuring that economies affected by the disease will still have access to export markets," he said.
"In brief, APEC should prevent avian flu from becoming another non-tariff barrier."
Leaders from the 21-member APEC, gathering in Hanoi for their annual summit, are expected to endorse a plan to fight bird flu and cooperate in improving regional pandemic preparedness with enhanced surveillance, improved infrastructure and expanded technical collaboration, according to a draft of the final statement to be released this weekend.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/11/17/asia/AS_GEN_APEC_Indonesia_Bird_Flu.php
