Good morning HONOURABLE Ministers, Distinguish Senior Officials, Ladies and Gentlemen
I would like to thank HE Mr. Abhisat, Prime Minister of Thailand, and Royal Thai Government for hosting ASEAN + 3 Health Ministers Special meeting on Influenza A(H1N1)
I am speaking today on behalf of the two WHO regions that make up this part of the world – my own region, the Western Pacific Region, and the South-East Asian Region. Unfortunately, the Regional Director for South-East Asia, Dr Samlee, is not able to be with us today. But he joins me in thanking ASEAN for organizing this important meeting at such short notice.
Those of us in this part of the world remember only too well the events of a few years ago when SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, claimed nearly 900 lives and brought international travel and trade to a virtual standstill. Having been on the frontlines of that battle, we understand the challenges faced by our friends in Mexico and other parts of the world.
We learnt many lessons from those days. One of the most important was the need to urgently share information about outbreaks of unusual infectious diseases. This meeting, in which we will be sharing our experiences, is a vital part of that process.
After SARS and in response to the emergence of avian influenza, Member States in Asia quickly went to work to further strengthen their alert and response systems
One result of that process was the Asia Pacific Strategy for Emerging Diseases, or APSED as it is better known. This Strategy serves as a road map for countries and areas in the Region to strengthen both national and regional core capacities required to deal with emerging diseases. APSED is a vital tool in our fight against this new pathogen and has already proved its worth in battle against avian influenza.
Over the past 4-5 years, all the countries in this region have been working very hard and collectively to invest and strengthen the fundamental public health systems and capacities for managing emerging disease threats.
Laboratory capacity is now very solid. The National Influenza Centers in this two WHO regions have been very active. We have been working together with them to conduct annual meeting, to carry out various workshops and step-by-step training. External quality assurance results show that all the National Influenza Centers have the core capacity to produce quality diagnosis. Laboratory test for the new influenza A(H1N1), we would like to confirm the test kits have been developed by US/CDC and sent to all the National Influenza Center in our region. The Serum Institute of India is taking steps to develop the vaccine against this new virus in close collaboration with WHO
A few days ago, I visited Viet Nam. I was very pleased to know that the country has even moved steps ahead. Viet Nam is now trying to develop 15 provincial level laboratories and network them.
The newly updated WHO guidance on pandemic influenza preparedness and response has been introduced to our Member States at the Fukuoka meeting held from 3-6 March. This was the first region to explain the content of the new guidelines. Our Member States have been encouraged to review and revise their plans since then.
In China, the country' public health emergency preparedness and response systems have been greatly improved over the past years. They are able to detect national events and responding to them quickly despite the need for continuing efforts for local capacity strengthening. Communications and information exchanges with regard to outbreaks and public health events have been very smooth and effective between China and WHO. China has also playing an increasing role in supporting international health work.
New and effective partnerships have been fostered. CHINA-REPUBLIC OF KOREA-JAPAN organized tripartite Health Ministers Meeting in Beijing, China on November 2, 2008. Three countries have developed their joint action plan and conducted excellent exercises to test the plan. WHO is now working together with three countries to conduct further exercises.
Exercise has now become the part of routine work. WHO also organized various exercises together with other countries such as Cambodia, the Philippines, Malaysia. Just last month, a multi-sectoral pandemic influenza rapid containment exercise was just successfully conducted in Malaria. The exercise demonstrated the country's excellent command and control system to manage a public health emergency.
Singapore has developed its excellent pandemic response plan that has been validated many times with their exercises.
In Laos, national surveillance and response systems and capacities have been greatly improved through effective implementation of APSED, this bi-regional strategy.
In Cambodia, the country has now established its excellent rapid response teams for outbreak response.
Brunei hosted risk communication for high level Ministry Health Official.
The current evolving influenza A(H1N1) is now a real case to test whether and how our Member States in this region are able to manage a public health emergency.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my highest gratitude to our Member States. I thank you all for your great efforts that have been made to improve core capacities, and to contribute our regional safety net.
Most of the credit for this effort must go to our Member States, who acted quickly and demonstrated great leadership not only in developing the strategy, but also in implementing it. Without all the hard work in all the ministries throughout the Western Pacific and South-East Asia Regions, we would not be as well prepared as we now are to face the challenges presented by pandemic flu.
Another tool now at our disposal is the recently revised International Health Regulations, which took effect in June 2007. They lay out the responsibilities of governments to notify WHO and the international community of public health emergencies of international concern. They provide a common framework for all of us to respond to a public health emergency quickly and collectively.
Over the last years, we have been putting a lot of efforts to strengthen core capacities and regional collaboration under these global and regional tools.
ASEAN/Japan stockpile has been established. WHO has been working closely with ASEAN Secretariat and Government of Japan on this regional stockpiling
We tested these tools in a series of pandemic preparedness exercises. PanStop 2007, which WHO conducted with ASEAN, tested our ability to head off the first signs of a human influenza pandemic. It involved a mock scenario in which Tamiflu and personal protective equipment had to be swiftly dispatched from the ASEAN-supported stockpile in Singapore to a South-East Asian country where signs of a pandemic strain of influenza were emerging.
These stockpiles are another weapon at are disposal in the current fight against pandemic flu.
The lessons learnt from that exercise and others greatly enhanced our readiness to deal with the current situation. When the international public health community first learnt about the outbreaks in Mexico and California, WHO and Member States responded swiftly and put the world on alert.
At WHO, our Special Operations Rooms are operating at full speed after we received the reports from US CDC in April. We are now in constant communications with our Member States. Together with our Headquarters in Geneva and other Regional Offices, we are closely monitoring the evolving situation, provide and share with our countries updated information. We urgently work with countries to intensify influenza surveillance in this region.
I would like to thank all the countries for the joint efforts in fight again this real threat. Our Member States have undertaken to strengthen surveillance and for the timely report of cases. Early detection, rapid sharing of information and response to cases quickly is vital for possible escalation.
We are also working with various international and regional partners to support countries' preparedness and response in more coordinated way.
The WHO South-East Regional Office has been currently working very closely with its Member States to manage this public health emergency as well.
As we move forward, there is one thing we can be sure of — and that is if there is a pandemic, we do not know how severe it might be.
But we are certain that we can lessen the impact of whatever we might be facing if all of us share information that will allow us to identify any escalation of the ongoing outbreak. In this regard, I must thank our Member States for their immediate response in strengthening surveillance and for their timely reporting of cases.
Finally, it is important for all countries to use this time to strengthen pandemic preparedness and readiness activities in order to be fully prepared for any eventuality.
The 13 countries meeting here today are home to more than 2 billion people, nearly one-third of the world's population. By reviewing and comparing our pandemic flu preparedness plans and the surveillance systems we have in place, we should be better prepared to prevent or sharply curtail the spread of this virus and help protect the world.
I would like to thank you for your cooperation. Rest assured that WHO is here to help you.
This is a fight we cannot afford to lose.
Thank you.