Ottawa — Health ministers and heads of heads of key international organizations will gather in Ottawa next week to strengthen the international response to an anticipated influenza pandemic that some scientists say may already be developing in the form of bird flu.
“Canada is encouraging all countries to collaborate on a global planning effort to reduce the risk of a possible influenza pandemic. Countries must do their best to support each other by sharing information and plans as well as skills and resources,” Ian Shugart, an assistant deputy minister with Health Canada, told a Thursday morning press conference.
The two-day meeting next week with be “an opportunity for health ministers from all parts of the world to come together to advance the world already in progress,” he said.
That meeting will bring together, for the first time, ministers of health and senior officials from about 30 developed and developing countries and well as the heads of key international organizations such as the World Health Organization, the Food and Agricultural Organization and the World Organization for Animal Health.
Related Articles
Internet Links
The invited officials hope to build on a number of international initiatives including the WHO's Strategic Plan for Pandemic Preparedness and the United States International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza.
They will discuss how to reduce the spread of infectious diseases, including the H5N1 avian virus that is the current focus of global concern, both among animals and from animals to humans, said Mr. Shugart.
They will also discuss improving early detection and response to an influenza outbreak, vaccine development and access, and how to ensure accurate and timely sharing of information both before and during a pandemic.
“We hope to assist affected countries in developing their plans and strengthening their means of early detection and response to an influenza pandemic,” said Mr. Shugart.
David Butler Jones, Canada's Chief Public Health Officer, explained that pandemics occur two or three times a century when the influenza virus undergoes a shift leaving the human population without immunity.
“New pandemic outbreaks will occur in the future. What we don't know is when or its severity or how soon it might occur,” said Dr. Butler Jones.
“At this time avian influenza, the H5N1, is the strain that has the most potential to become a serious pandemic. That does not mean that it will be the H5N1 and, even if it were a derivative of this particular strain, it will have changed by the time because it will need to develop the ability to spread easily from person to person.”
When an influenza strain develops pandemic characteristics, it can spread very rapidly and result in significant illness, death and social disruption, he said, adding that those consequences are why next week's conference so important.
A Canadian Pandemic Influenza Plan has been developed by federal, provincial and territorial governments with input from more than 200 experts and officials, said Dr. Butler Jones.
“We have taken action already on a number of key initiatives that have been mapped out in the plan including active surveillance in hospitals for novel respiratory diseases, the national anti-viral stockpile, managing the emergency stockpile system and establishing a contract for a domestic vaccine production,” he said.
But “while we are recognized as one of the leaders in preparedness around a pandemic, there is still a lot of work to be done throughout many parts of the system. The potential scale of a pandemic would affect every country and we should never sit back thinking we are fully prepared.”
