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August 23, 2006 (Reuters)
New Zealand's preparedness for an influenza pandemic has been praised by medical researchers who raised fears about other countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
In an article published in The Lancet medical journal yesterday, Richard Coker and Sandra Mounier-Jack, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, wrote that New Zealand, with Australia and Hong Kong, had taken a "strategic approach aimed mainly at harnessing available resources or preparing for the deployment of resources".
"The plans of Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand compared favourably with the best European plans." But the public health experts called on wealthier nations to share scarce antiviral drugs and vaccines with poorer countries in Asia.
They warned that poorer nations may refuse to share vital information and to co-operate with the rest of the world without an equitable distribution of antiviral drugs.
"If this [equitable drug distribution] were to prove unattainable, some have warned of a potential risk that poor countries in the region would be reluctant to co-operate with the international community, eg. by providing information to assist with disease surveillance, or isolates of the virus to facilitate vaccine development and production," the experts wrote.
Researchers Coker and Jack made their recommendations after assessing national influenza preparedness plans of some countries in Asia and compared them with those of Europe.
As well as applauding Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand for their "detailed guidance manuals", they called on Thailand, China and Vietnam to follow suit.
These three nations are building capacity to detect and respond to disease, but the authors suggested that these plans be complemented with operational guides giving details about implementation and management of available resources.
"A pandemic might not wait until capacity is developed. These operational guides would need to be modified as capacity grows," they said.
Contingency plans in Europe and Asia had the same failings.
"Most plans did not adequately address operational responsibility at the local level; logistical aspects of vaccination and antiviral stockpiling, distribution and delivery; or the maintenance of essential services," they said.
Source: www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10397493
August 23, 2006 (Reuters)
New Zealand's preparedness for an influenza pandemic has been praised by medical researchers who raised fears about other countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
In an article published in The Lancet medical journal yesterday, Richard Coker and Sandra Mounier-Jack, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, wrote that New Zealand, with Australia and Hong Kong, had taken a "strategic approach aimed mainly at harnessing available resources or preparing for the deployment of resources".
"The plans of Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand compared favourably with the best European plans." But the public health experts called on wealthier nations to share scarce antiviral drugs and vaccines with poorer countries in Asia.
They warned that poorer nations may refuse to share vital information and to co-operate with the rest of the world without an equitable distribution of antiviral drugs.
"If this [equitable drug distribution] were to prove unattainable, some have warned of a potential risk that poor countries in the region would be reluctant to co-operate with the international community, eg. by providing information to assist with disease surveillance, or isolates of the virus to facilitate vaccine development and production," the experts wrote.
Researchers Coker and Jack made their recommendations after assessing national influenza preparedness plans of some countries in Asia and compared them with those of Europe.
As well as applauding Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand for their "detailed guidance manuals", they called on Thailand, China and Vietnam to follow suit.
These three nations are building capacity to detect and respond to disease, but the authors suggested that these plans be complemented with operational guides giving details about implementation and management of available resources.
"A pandemic might not wait until capacity is developed. These operational guides would need to be modified as capacity grows," they said.
Contingency plans in Europe and Asia had the same failings.
"Most plans did not adequately address operational responsibility at the local level; logistical aspects of vaccination and antiviral stockpiling, distribution and delivery; or the maintenance of essential services," they said.
Source: www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10397493