Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
reacting to Vietnam's experience with avian influenza, officials from the world
bank, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the asian Development
bank (aDb), the Joint United nations Programme on HIv/aIDS (UnaIDS), the
United nations Development Programme (UnDP), and the wHo met in Hanoi for
extensive discussions about funding health systems and providing compensation
for culled birds. Subsequently, various nGos such as vétérinaires Sans Frontières
and Save the children met. the differences between the discussion with the
international organisations and the discussion with NGOs with first-hand experience
in the trenches—working every day with the citizens in the communities in
vietnam—were plentiful.
the activity on the ground at thailand's Mahidol University was fascinating
in terms of bottom-up realities, surveillance, and capacity building. their X-ray
surveillance system was most impressive. In fact, thailand's approach was commonly
referred to at the international conference of health ministers in ottawa in 2005.
Every community in Thailand identified, using a sociogram, the health volunteer for
that community, who then received appropriate training. that individual was the most
trusted person to whom people could go with their secrets, from whom they would
seek advice—and who could provide three days of malaria pills until they could
see a health professional. that individual was the one who would go to a farmer to
explain that all the chickens had to be killed. this individual would, consequently,
have a huge knowledge base and would have to engage in continuous learning to
improve communication systems. canada has much to learn from countries that
really do not have a highly developed healthcare system, but where keeping people
well is paramount to saving lives.
Michael leavitt, U.S. secretary of health and human resources, was particularly
impressed by the pandemic preparedness in southeast asia. as the former governor
of Utah, where forest fires pose a considerable problem, he appreciated the measures
that had been taken in thailand to stomp out the spark before it caught, rather than
investing enormous sums of money in legions of bombers to put out the fire afterward.
canadians should expect to see all levels of government collaborate responsibly in the
face of a serious threat to the health of the population. as the naylor report says,
'the rules and norms for a seamless public health system must be sorted out in advance
of a health emergency, with a spirit of partnership and shared commitment to the
health of the citizenry, not on an ad hoc basis in the midst of the battle to contain a
viral outbreak' (national advisory committee 2003, 212). lessons must be learned,
not only from SarS but also from what happened with previous influenza pandemics
and HIv/aIDS. again, the scenario is reminiscent of Shi Huangdi's comments. It is
not acceptable to cast weapons once we have already engaged in battle.
the Global Pandemic Influenza Readiness conference in 2005 was a particularly
useful opportunity for international participants to discuss key policy priorities and
actions in guiding international efforts. Mainly, however, the discussions focussed
on changing the mindset, admitting that no one has all the right answers, and needing
to share problems, challenges and proposed solutions. as with canada's domestic
health challenges, one of the larger impediments to dealing successfully with public
