The Hindu Business Line : Intl agencies call for action plan to check swine flu spread

UNITED NATIONS: Several international agencies including the World Health Organisation (WHO) has called for coordinated action to check the spread of swine flu and minimise its impact worldwide. It aims to prepare and protect all communities, particula rly those with weaker health systems and more vulnerable populations from the impacts of the disease, UN spokesperson Marie Okabe said at a news conference here yesterday.

Besides WHO, other agencies are the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), UNICEF, and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. WHO notes that the spread of H1N1 is inevitable and has already reache d such countries as Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Haiti, Iraq, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, Okabe said.

The call to action asks for a range of measures that health ministries can take, especially in those countries that might have limited access to antiviral medicines, she said. Those measures include identifying populations at increased risk of disease and death; reducing death by treating acute respiratory illness and pneumonia. Other measures are aimed at reducing the spread of disease; continuing critical services; planning for the worst; and coordinating efforts, the spokesperson said. - PTI

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