Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
one can assume that there will be unforeseen circumstances that will fall outside the
plan. the same assumption applies when considering a pandemic.
there is no question that it was easier to plan for the Y2K, because everybody
knew they had until 31 December 1999 to put the plan in place. People could
determine a critical path with their partners in business, labour, government, and
nongovernmental organisations (nGos). work could be performed with a deadline
in mind, without people's sense of purpose flagging. The concept of emergency
preparedness is different. the whole point of emergency preparedness is to have
plans in place in case an unfortunate event occurs—but that event might not happen,
or it might happen at some moment in the distant, unknowable future. Unfortunately,
as with earthquakes, this is the reality with regard to viruses and bioterrorism.
another challenge facing canada is that many countries are not preparing at
all, and others simply do not have the capacity to prepare without canadian aid.
the wHo and canada, together and collaboratively with other countries, have been
trying to work with those countries that are currently most at risk. For example, in
2005 Vietnam sent officials and scientists to winnipeg to learn how to build their
own laboratory capacity at home. canada invested ca$15 million in the canada-
asia regional emerging Infectious Disease Initiative, in order to help build public
health capacity and surveillance in southeast asia. Some countries, regrettably,
lack candour or transparency with regard to admitting the existence and severity
of a problem. working with the wHo, canada invented the Global Public Health
Intelligence network (GPHIn), which combs the internet for media releases and
newspaper clippings in seven languages for any potential health hazard (Zacher
2007, 19; PHac 2004).
the International Health regulations (IHr) issued by the wHo are legally
binding regulations adopted by most countries to contain the threats from diseases
that may rapidly spread from one country to another. Such diseases include emerging
infections like SARS or a new human influenza virus. The revised IHR issued in
2005 are a great improvement over their predecessor and bring disease control into
the 21st century (wHo 2006). Updated to prevent, protect against, and control the
international spread of disease, they provide a public health response when disease
does spread internationally. However commendable, the effectiveness of these
regulations depends on each country's capacity to identify, verify, and manage
critical outbreaks. when the quality of data is challenged, as has been the case in
various countries, the effectiveness of the IHr becomes an issue. In other words,
there are some pieces in place but no system is perfect. Many countries have trouble
simply reporting their births and deaths accurately, which calls into question their
ability to manage information about an outbreak.
by 2003, Hong Kong had already developed various ideas and responses
regarding pandemic preparedness because of its experience with the H5n1 strain
since 1997. For example, in the market, unsold birds did not return home to the
farm: any bird that was not sold was killed and eaten, so there was no traffic from
the marketplace to the farm. Health authorities found a vaccine that had worked for
another virus that had some impact on the avian influenza virus.
