Article
"NKARA, 12 April (IRIN) - The World Health Organization (WHO) has welcomed the Turkmen government's efforts on its preparedness for a possible bird flu outbreak in the country, which neighbours Kazakhstan where the virus resurfaced in March.
"We are glad the government requested us [the WHO] to visit. We have spent three days in the capital [Ashgabat] visiting laboratories to look at the preparedness [level], if a case [of bird flu] occurs," Bernardus Ganter, the WHO's regional adviser on communicable disease surveillance, told IRIN from Denmark's capital Copenhagen on Tuesday.
Over 100 participants attended a seminar on bird flu, organised by the Turkmen Ministry of Health and the WHO European Regional Bureau, in the Turkmen capital on 4-7 April.
Ganter, who attended the event in the former Soviet republic where the H5N1 virus has yet to be detected, said that the Central Asian country still faced challenges on the issue. A team of experts also held a workshop to train local health workers on bird flu and a possible pandemic, and held activities on emergency situations."...
"NKARA, 12 April (IRIN) - The World Health Organization (WHO) has welcomed the Turkmen government's efforts on its preparedness for a possible bird flu outbreak in the country, which neighbours Kazakhstan where the virus resurfaced in March.
"We are glad the government requested us [the WHO] to visit. We have spent three days in the capital [Ashgabat] visiting laboratories to look at the preparedness [level], if a case [of bird flu] occurs," Bernardus Ganter, the WHO's regional adviser on communicable disease surveillance, told IRIN from Denmark's capital Copenhagen on Tuesday.
Over 100 participants attended a seminar on bird flu, organised by the Turkmen Ministry of Health and the WHO European Regional Bureau, in the Turkmen capital on 4-7 April.
Ganter, who attended the event in the former Soviet republic where the H5N1 virus has yet to be detected, said that the Central Asian country still faced challenges on the issue. A team of experts also held a workshop to train local health workers on bird flu and a possible pandemic, and held activities on emergency situations."...