UN officials rehearse plans for bird flu pandemic
By Mark Turner at the United Nations
Published: March 8 2006 22:25 | Last updated: March 8 2006 22:25
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/6bafb7dc-aecf-11da-b04a-0000779e2340.html
Earlier this week a group of the UN?s most senior managers met on the 38th floor of their New York headquarters to consider a frightening scenario.
Bird flu had reached New York and could now be transmitted between humans.
Travel restrictions were in place, aviation was at a standstill, communications were under strain, and UN staff were getting sick.
In some countries riots had broken out and UN missions were under siege as people tried to get hold of scarce medicines; national police forces were decimated.
Vulnerable populations were crying for international assistance.
The group, moderated by the UN?s avian flu point man David Nabarro, was faced with some difficult home truths. When a real global crisis hits, what truly are the UN?s essential functions and who needs to carry them out?
Which officials absolutely had to come to UN headquarters, and possibly stay there for six to eight weeks away from their families? What was the UN capable of delivering in the least developed countries, what needed to be stockpiled and how would finances flow?
Some of the answers, although preliminary, were revealing. Participants felt most inter-governmental meetings could and would have to be stopped, but the Security Council ? through teleconferencing, possibly ? would need to continue.
Many staff would probably have to stay at home for several weeks; the UN?s iconic headquarters might only be able to sustain a couple of hundred officials for a prolonged period, and that would have to include security, communications and medical services.
While the UN would probably need to maintain a symbolic high-level presence at HQ, and carry out some co-ordination activities for peacekeeping and humanitarian operations, many decisions could be devolved to country offices.
Mark Malloch Brown, the UN?s incoming deputy secretary-general, has called for answers over the coming weeks, in the kind of exercise flu experts are suggesting all international organisations and corporations should be considering.
Not all scenarios are so dramatic. Bird flu may not evolve to human transmission at all, or may spread slowly, affecting different countries at different times.
But the spread could be very rapid, and the UN is making contingency plans for the worst.
Draft UN guidelines, to be released soon, call for a prioritisation of the organisation?s work in the event of a pandemic, the definition of critical staff, and a review of its facilities and security.
By Mark Turner at the United Nations
Published: March 8 2006 22:25 | Last updated: March 8 2006 22:25
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/6bafb7dc-aecf-11da-b04a-0000779e2340.html
Earlier this week a group of the UN?s most senior managers met on the 38th floor of their New York headquarters to consider a frightening scenario.
Bird flu had reached New York and could now be transmitted between humans.
Travel restrictions were in place, aviation was at a standstill, communications were under strain, and UN staff were getting sick.
In some countries riots had broken out and UN missions were under siege as people tried to get hold of scarce medicines; national police forces were decimated.
Vulnerable populations were crying for international assistance.
The group, moderated by the UN?s avian flu point man David Nabarro, was faced with some difficult home truths. When a real global crisis hits, what truly are the UN?s essential functions and who needs to carry them out?
Which officials absolutely had to come to UN headquarters, and possibly stay there for six to eight weeks away from their families? What was the UN capable of delivering in the least developed countries, what needed to be stockpiled and how would finances flow?
Some of the answers, although preliminary, were revealing. Participants felt most inter-governmental meetings could and would have to be stopped, but the Security Council ? through teleconferencing, possibly ? would need to continue.
Many staff would probably have to stay at home for several weeks; the UN?s iconic headquarters might only be able to sustain a couple of hundred officials for a prolonged period, and that would have to include security, communications and medical services.
While the UN would probably need to maintain a symbolic high-level presence at HQ, and carry out some co-ordination activities for peacekeeping and humanitarian operations, many decisions could be devolved to country offices.
Mark Malloch Brown, the UN?s incoming deputy secretary-general, has called for answers over the coming weeks, in the kind of exercise flu experts are suggesting all international organisations and corporations should be considering.
Not all scenarios are so dramatic. Bird flu may not evolve to human transmission at all, or may spread slowly, affecting different countries at different times.
But the spread could be very rapid, and the UN is making contingency plans for the worst.
Draft UN guidelines, to be released soon, call for a prioritisation of the organisation?s work in the event of a pandemic, the definition of critical staff, and a review of its facilities and security.