 |
|
Avian flu threat: New approach needed
October 23, 2008Ministers urged to rethink rather than repackage $2B global response
As the first globally co-ordinated plan for the planet's gravest health threats is hatched by government ministers from around the world this weekend, a new report sets out a 10-point plan for this new, globalised approach to infectious diseases such as avian flu.
Ministers of health and agriculture will formulate a global plan to prepare for, and respond to, the threat of avian flu and other emerging infectious diseases at the International Ministerial Conference on Avian and Pandemic Influenza in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt (October 24-26). The plan - called the One World, One Health initiative - aims for an unprecedented integration of animal, human and ecosystem health issues to fight the threat of the avian flu virus, H5N1.
A new report by Professor Ian Scoones and Paul Forster of the ESRC STEPS Centre at the UK's Institute of Development Studies lays out 10 key recommendations for One World, One Health, based on analysis of lessons learned from the massive $2bn international response to the avian flu over the past five years, during which time 245 people have died.
According to the report - The International Response to Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza: Science, Policy and Politics - ministers need to rethink current ideas in order to achieve an effective, equitable and resilient international plan of response to emerging diseases.
The recommendations include rethinking disease surveillance, redefining health security, new responses to uncertainty and ignorance, emphasising access and equity as well as questions of organisational architecture and governance.
"The One World, One Health initiative is a radical departure from the conventional sectoral approaches to health. It is essential, but presents many challenges. We have identified 10 challenges for the way ahead, and urge ministers to rethink rather than repackage their measures. One World One Health needs to be more than 'old wine in new bottles'," said Professor Ian Scoones, IDS Fellow and co-director of the ESRC STEPS Centre.
Over the last decade, the avian flu virus, H5N1, has spread across most of Asia and Europe and parts of Africa. In some countries - including Indonesia, China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Nigeria and Egypt - the disease has become endemic. Although 245 deaths have been reported since 2003 there has, as yet, been no human pandemic. But somewhere, some time, a new emerging infectious disease will have major impacts, given changing disease ecologies and patterns of urbanisation and climate change.
A major international response, backed by over $2bn of public money, has affected the livelihoods and businesses of millions. Markets have been restructured, surveillance and poultry vaccination campaigns implemented, and over two billion birds have died or been culled. Simultaneously substantial investment has been made in human and animal health systems and developing drugs and vaccines.
In many countries pandemic contingency and preparedness plans have been devised. Yet coordination at country level has been found wanting; rivalries between professions and organisations persist; and funding and capacities for an effective and equitable global responses to a pandemic remain weak.
The themes addressed in this report are being explored as part of a project on avian influenza policy responses in Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, in collaboration with the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation. They are central to the ESRC STEPS Centre's research programme on ecology, politics, policy and pathways to sustainability.
Institute of Development Studies
A new report by Professor Ian Scoones and Paul Forster of the ESRC STEPS Centre at the UK's Institute of Development Studies lays out 10 key recommendations for One World, One Health, based on analysis of lessons learned from the massive $2bn international response to the avian flu over the past five years, during which time 245 people have died.
According to the report - The International Response to Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza: Science, Policy and Politics - ministers need to rethink current ideas in order to achieve an effective, equitable and resilient international plan of response to emerging diseases.
The recommendations include rethinking disease surveillance, redefining health security, new responses to uncertainty and ignorance, emphasising access and equity as well as questions of organisational architecture and governance.
"The One World, One Health initiative is a radical departure from the conventional sectoral approaches to health. It is essential, but presents many challenges. We have identified 10 challenges for the way ahead, and urge ministers to rethink rather than repackage their measures. One World One Health needs to be more than 'old wine in new bottles'," said Professor Ian Scoones, IDS Fellow and co-director of the ESRC STEPS Centre.
Over the last decade, the avian flu virus, H5N1, has spread across most of Asia and Europe and parts of Africa. In some countries - including Indonesia, China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Nigeria and Egypt - the disease has become endemic. Although 245 deaths have been reported since 2003 there has, as yet, been no human pandemic. But somewhere, some time, a new emerging infectious disease will have major impacts, given changing disease ecologies and patterns of urbanisation and climate change.
A major international response, backed by over $2bn of public money, has affected the livelihoods and businesses of millions. Markets have been restructured, surveillance and poultry vaccination campaigns implemented, and over two billion birds have died or been culled. Simultaneously substantial investment has been made in human and animal health systems and developing drugs and vaccines.
In many countries pandemic contingency and preparedness plans have been devised. Yet coordination at country level has been found wanting; rivalries between professions and organisations persist; and funding and capacities for an effective and equitable global responses to a pandemic remain weak.
The themes addressed in this report are being explored as part of a project on avian influenza policy responses in Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, in collaboration with the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation. They are central to the ESRC STEPS Centre's research programme on ecology, politics, policy and pathways to sustainability.
Institute of Development Studies
Avian Flu Current Events and Avian Flu News RSSExon-skipping drug prevents muscle wasting, maintains muscle function in dystrophin deficient mice
An exon skipping PPMO has demonstrated dramatic effects in the prevention and treatment of severely affected, dystrophin and utrophin-deficient mice, preventing severe deterioration of the treated animals and extending their lifespan.
World will miss 2010 target to stem biodiversity loss, experts say
The world will miss its agreed target to stem biodiversity loss by next year, according to experts convening in Cape Town for a landmark conference devoted to biodiversity science.
Avian influenza strain primes brain for Parkinson's disease
At least one strain of the H5N1 avian influenza virus leaves survivors at significantly increased risk for Parkinson's disease and possibly other neurological problems later in life.
Milwaukee swine flu testing results published
Researchers at The Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee published the first initial paper describing the Milwaukee prevalence of the largest outbreak of novel swine origin influenza virus (S-OIV) in America.
Arthritis drug might prove effective in fighting the flu, study suggests
Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine have found that an approved drug for treating rheumatoid arthritis reduces severe illness and death in mice exposed to the Influenza A virus.
New 3-D structural model of critical H1N1 protein developed
In just two weeks from the time the first patient virus samples were made available, Singapore scientists report an evolutionary analysis of a critical protein produced by the 2009 H1N1 influenza A virus strain.
The challenges of avian influenza virus: Mechanism, epidemiology and control
The latest special issue of Science in China Series C: Life Sciences focuses on the recent progress in the H5N1-related research field.
New infectious diseases - what's the risk?
With the current outbreak of swine flu, and in the absence of a vaccine or treatment at present, the only way to contain the virus is to get people around the world to take precautionary measures.
Human nose too cold for bird flu, says new study
Avian influenza viruses do not thrive in humans because the temperature inside a person's nose is too low, according to research published today in the journal PLoS Pathogens.
Avian Flu Research Sheds Light on Swine Flu Outbreak
A recent study by University of Maryland researchers examines the mechanisms underlying transmission of combined avian-human viruses and illustrates how virus outbreaks like that of the current swine flu come about.
More Avian Flu Current Events and Avian Flu News Articles
 |
The Fatal Strain: On the Trail of Avian Flu and the Coming Pandemic by Alan Sipress (Author) A riveting account of why science alone can't stop the next pandemic When avian flu began spreading across Asia in the early-2000s, it reawakened fears that had lain dormant for nearly a century. During the outbreak's deadliest years, Alan Sipress chased the virus as it infiltrated remote jungle villages and teeming cities and saw its mysteries elude the world's top scientists. In The Fatal Strain, Sipress details how socioeconomic and political realities in Asia make it the perfect petri dish in which the fast-mutating strain can become easily communicable among humans. Once it does, the ease and speed of international travel and worldwide economic interdependence could make it as destructive as the flu pandemic of 1918. In his vivid portrayal of the struggle between man... |
 |
Dread: How Fear and Fantasy have Fueled Epidemics from the Black Death to the Avian Flu by Philip Alcabes (Author) The average individual is far more likely to die in a car accident than from a communicable disease…yet we are still much more fearful of the epidemic. Even at our most level-headed, the thought of an epidemic can inspire terror. As Philip Alcabes persuasively argues in Dread, our anxieties about epidemics are created not so much by the germ or microbe in question—or the actual risks of contagion—but by the unknown, the undesirable, and the misunderstood. Alcabes examines epidemics through history to show how they reflect the particular social and cultural anxieties of their times. From Typhoid Mary to bioterrorism, as new outbreaks are unleashed or imagined, new fears surface, new enemies are born, and new behaviors emerge. Dread dissects the fascinating story of the imagined... |
 |
The Next Plague - Avian Flu (History Channel) With the current threat of Avian Flu spreading worldwide, President Bush talked openly about the possibility of an epidemic in the coming years. The Center for Disease Control and the World Health Organization say that we are long overdue for a deadly epidemic, and it isn't a question of if but when. Here in the US the questions are already being asked. Are we ready? How can we prevent it? What will be the cost in lives? We'll look at what effect a large-scale epidemic would have on the United States and the rest of the world. We'll ask what steps pharmaceutical companies are taking in developing vaccines and an antidote. If a nationwide quarantine is put into effect, who will enforce it--the National Guard? We also examine new evidence that the Great Epidemic of 1918 may have been an... |
 |
New York Times Deadly Invaders: Virus Outbreaks Around the World, from Marburn Fever to Avian Flu by Denise Grady (Author) An epidemic strikes the United States, plunging the country into chaos. New York Times medical reporter Denise Grady uses this terrifying scenario, taken from the pages of a U.S. government report on the potential outcome of a pandemic, as the starting point for a journey into the gripping world of emerging diseases. In search of a better understanding of these often deadly diseases, Grady heads to Angola, the site of the 2005 Marburg virus epidemic, a disease closely related to Ebola. On the ground, and sometimes frighteningly close to victims of the disease, Denise explores the realities of health care in the developing world, and its potential effects on our own welfare. With supplemental sidebars that explain key scientific and social issues and in-depth chapters on the... |
 |
Latex Gloves, Lightly Powdered, 100 per box. recommendation to protect against Avian Bird Flu. by LDF INDUSTRIES INC. Excellent fit for comfort sensitivity & safety; High anti tear properties; Beaded cuff for tear resistance. |
 |
Disposable EARLOOP Face MASK, Filters Bacteria 3 Ply - (Box of 50) by EVERREADY FIRST AID Tie-on surgical face mask with high bacterial filtration efficiency (BFE), low breathing resistance, soft, odorless, non-irritating, comfortable superior fit, fiberglass free. |
 |
Kimberly Clark Tecnol PFR95 N95 Particulate Filter Respirator and Surgical Mask NIOSH N95 PFRP2-62408 50/BOX Avian & Swine Flu Mask by KIMBERLY CLARK |
 |
10-Pack NIOSH N95 Respirator Flu Face Mask - Exhalation Valve for More Natural Breathing - Double Strap for Secure Fit by Major National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) approved N95 disposable particulate respirator, approval numbers 84A-4274. Boxed 10 masks per package. |
|
Dread: How Fear and Fantasy Have Fueled Epidemics from the Black Death to Avian Flu by Philip Alcabes (Author) | |
 |
Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America Directed By: Richard Pearce Also With: Dennis A. Brown (Producer) |
| © 2009 BrightSurf.com |