By Cheryl Pellerin
USINFO Staff Writer
Nations Examine Pandemic Flu Preparedness at India Conference
Two days before the December 4-6 New Delhi International Ministerial Conference on Avian and Pandemic Influenza convened
in India's northern capital, journalists from India and Afghanistan gathered at a two-day workshop to learn how to cover
the highly pathogenic viral disease of birds and, in 12 countries so far, people.
The 18 attendees, men and women, came from radio and television stations, magazines and newspapers in the region. Thanks
to the timing, workshop presenters included high-level officials and avian flu experts who are part of the U.S.
delegation to the ministerial.
"The point of the training," said Gustavo Win, workshop leader and a development officer in International Media Training
at the U.S. International Broadcasting Bureau, "is to make sure reporters receive adequate information from experts
working on an international level."
A second avian flu workshop for journalists from India, Bangladesh and elsewhere in the region will be held just after
the ministerial meeting, December 7-8, in Kolkata, India.
MEETING THE PRESS
Win said there is still confusion among some foreign journalists about highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu and pandemic
flu, and about the fact that avian flu is primarily an animal disease that, to date, only rarely has affected people.
Of 335 humans infected since 2003, some 205 have died, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), in 12 nations.
That is in contrast to more than 60 nations that have reported H5N1 in birds.
Win's group works alongside WHO, which also has a training program for international journalists and always includes
international presenters on a range of topics in its courses, including malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, freedom of the
press, ethics in journalism and even how to set up a radio station.
"I have done this year three other trainings on avian influenza in West and East Africa with incredible success," he
said, "and I have learned in the process that this was a good model as long as we incorporated experts from all the
partners working on the same topic."
"The workshop was really useful for me," said attendee Humira Ghamgusar, from the Arezoo radio and television station in
Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan. "Now I know that influenza is one thing and bird flu is another thing. Before, we thought
they were the same. And now I know how I can teach my viewers, my readers what they should do to affect this disease."
AVIAN FLU MINISTERIAL
The New Delhi ministerial, hosted by the government of India in collaboration with the International Partnership on
Avian and Pandemic Influenza, is the major international conference on avian flu in 2007 and the fifth such meeting
since 2005.
"This in itself," reads a letter to ministerial attendees by Sharad Pawar, India's minister of agriculture, and Dr.
Anbumani Ramadoss, minister of health and family welfare, "demonstrates global concern over the geographical spread of
avian influenza in animals and the challenge posed to health care structures as the threat of a pandemic continues to
hang over the world."
"We're here because we want to elevate the avian influenza issue on national agendas," Ambassador John Lange, head of
the U.S. delegation, and special representative for avian and pandemic influenza at the State Department, told the
journalists December 3, the last day of the workshop.
"We want to coordinate the effort among nations that are most affected by this as well as donor governments," said
Lange, who was joined at the workshop by Kent Hill, assistant administrator for global health at the U.S. Agency for
International Development; Dr. Daniel Miller, head of the International Influenza Unit at the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services; and other members of the delegation.
Lange said the United States hopes to increase transparency in disease reporting, improve flu and other disease
surveillance, and engage in long-term capacity-building to identify, contain and respond to these matters in an avian
influenza outbreak and the possibility of a human influenza pandemic.
"All the efforts of the international community on H5N1," Hill said, "will help us with respect to any pandemic that
comes along because it's all about how we interact with animals, how we set up our surveillance systems, how we prepare
for response, how we deal with containment and how we learn and commit ourselves to transparency."
The United States, which has contributed $434 million to its international effort against avian flu, hopes to mobilize
more resources during the New Delhi ministerial.
"On Thursday [December 6]," Lange said, "I will announce a new U.S. government pledge to this effort in terms of our
international assistance."
ENDS