Reference1

EDITORIAL Battling flu, restoring pride

URL: http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/16258/battling-flu-restoring-pride
Published: 7/05/2009 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News

The meeting of Asean health ministers in Bangkok this week faces a dual threat. The first is the outbreak of H1N1 swine flu which has spread around the world from Mexico. The second is the political uncertainty in Thailand, and specifically another protest by the red shirts of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD). It must be stated strongly that these two events are not connected, and it is a matter of both urgency and national priority to ensure they are kept separated.

This time, the authorities must ensure by all necessary means that there is no interference with the meeting of the Asean ministers and officials.

The so-called "summit" on the latest epidemic of influenza has important aims. Despite recent experience gained with the 2003 Sars outbreak and the more recent serial eruptions of avian flu, the response to the swine flu crisis was far from smooth. Specifically, the early-warning mechanism supposedly in place for more than four years arguably failed. The first public statements and protective acts against spread of the H1N1 flu in the Asean region came days after newspaper headlines informed the public.



This should trouble the ministers due to meet in Bangkok. The same Asean health ministers set up a Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) Task Force in October 2004, which was specifically charged with providing early alerts and then to direct an effective regional response to disease outbreaks. The task force was to work with the World Health Organisation and international agricultural agencies. The plan clearly was late or inadequate in the latest health emergency.

As the ministers declared at their 2004 meeting, the Asean Secretariat was to take an active and leading role in coordinating a regional response to health emergencies. Again, that has not happened during the past weeks of the Mexico-centred flu outbreak. It was left to national governments to set up individual and often contradictory responses. Such uncoordinated actions have led to both wasted and confusing advice to Asean citizens.

The main subject on the agenda of the ministers, according to Public Health Minister Witthaya Kaewparadai, is a new plan to stockpile supplies of anti-influenza drugs. It is a shocking admission by the Thai government and Asean that no such coordinated stockpiling plan and procedure exists. It is doubly outrageous because the treatment for the current outbreak of swine flu is the same as for the avian flu of just a few years ago. Mr Witthaya's suggestion last week that the Singapore-based supply of oseltamivir (sold under the trade name Tamiflu) might be insufficient for the region's population, is a troubling admission about a supposedly dependable anti-disease measure.

While the ministers hopefully get down to realistic discussions about public health, a different sort of meeting will be getting under way nearby in Bangkok. The UDD is to assemble for its first public strategy discussion since last month's violence at the Asean summit in Pattaya and in the streets of Bangkok. This time, leaders should consider their actions more carefully. The current health crisis is a matter of life and death for everyone. The Thai leadership of the regional response has provided an opportunity for Thailand to restore international confidence in the country, badly shaken by the violence encouraged by the UDD.

As Thai citizens, the red shirts have the obligation to act responsibly and peacefully. Their leaders should announce at once that they will not interfere with the Asean health ministers or other international meetings.