WHO chief urges governments to improve preparedness for pandemic influenza

The threat of a pandemic influenza has not diminished and the world must keep improving their preparedness for any possible outbreak, chief of the World Health Organization (WHO) Dr Margaret Chan said on Tuesday.

"No country is fully prepared for a pandemic. I'm saying this because I'm just being realistic," Chan told reporters at a news briefing in Geneva.

Chan said almost all member states of the WHO now have some sort of pandemic preparedness plan, but some of those plans are not robust and detailed enough.

She said a preparedness plan should not be just a health sector plan and it needs to involve other sectors such as transportation, communication, education, etc..

According to the world health chief, the H5N1 avian influenza is still very much an animal disease and it has been confined to the animal sector.

But there is still of risk of human health and the WHO still receives from time to time reports of human cases from different countries, she said.

Since 2003, the WHO has confirmed a total of 318 human cases of H5N1 influenza, with 192 deaths.

Chan also urged countries to continue sharing avian flu virus with the WHO so that any initial evolution of the virus could be detected.

"The sharing of virus will enable us to characterize the virus - - whether it has acquired changes that would give the virus the potential to cause human transmission in an efficient manner," Chan said.

source:english.people.com.cn