UN HEALTH AGENCY ADVISES SOUTH-EAST ASIAN NATIONS IN FIGHT AGAINST A(H1N1) VIRUS

The United Nations health agency is providing practical information and technical expertise to countries in South-East Asia to help reduce panic and encourage prevention against the influenza A(H1N1) virus, which has already claimed over 80 lives in the region and continues to spread.

"It is important to remember that Member States in South-east Asia have been preparing for pandemic influenza for years and that preparedness could help them with the current pandemic," said Samlee Plianbangchang, Regional Director for the World Health Organization (WHO).

WHO is assisting countries in the region to strengthen surveillance, laboratory capacity, anti-viral and vaccine production and distribution, and information for the public, she added.

The agency reiterated the need to promote practices such as frequent hand-washing and covering the mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing
to prevent the spread of the virus, which has now been reported in over 170 countries and territories worldwide.

As of 6 August, the virus had affected over 11,400 people in South-East Asia and led to at least 83 deaths.

Among other issues, the agency noted that in general, identifying sick students and keeping them at home is more beneficial than school closures. In addition, it stressed that the use of surgical face masks is recommended only for patients and health-care workers.

WHO has transferred technology and development funds to vaccine manufacturers in the region, including Serum Institute of India, Biopharma (Indonesia) and GPO (Thailand), which together have the capacity to produce some 220 million doses of a vaccine annually.

In a bid to reassure the public after concerns were raised in the media, the agency stated earlier this month that the rush to produce a vaccine to fight the spread of the influenza A(H1N1) virus will not jeopardize the safety or effectiveness
of any new drug.

To have the greatest impact, vaccines need to be available quickly and in large quantities as they are among the most effective medical interventions for reducing illness and deaths during a pandemic, it added.

WHO calculates that completing the steps involved in developing a new vaccine from start -- obtaining a virus sample -- to finish, when the first supplies of the approved vaccine available for use, takes around five to six months.
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NEW REGIONAL BODY WILL HELP PROTECT HUMAN RIGHTS IN SOUTH-EAST ASIA – UN OFFICIAL

The United Nations human rights chief today welcomed the latest move to set up a regional body to protect the rights of people living in South-East Asia, highlighting the need to appoint "independent and impartial" experts to serve on it when it is launched in October.

The foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have endorsed the terms of reference for the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights, which will be the first regional body of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called the endorsement "an important step forward" in the establishment of the new mechanism, noting that similar bodies are already functioning in other regions, including Africa, the Americas and Europe.

She strongly encouraged ASEAN States to appoint Commission members who are "independent and impartial, and have proven expertise in human rights."

In addition, the national selection processes should include wide consultation and participation by various actors in society, said Ms. Pillay, noting the regional leaders' stated commitment to create a "people-oriented ASEAN."

At the same time, the High Commissioner voiced her disappointment at the Commission's "lack of a clear protection mandate," but said she hoped its role would expand after its launch in October at the 15th ASEAN Summit, to be held in Phuket, Thailand.

She also stressed that close cooperation and partnership with independent and effective national human rights institutions, which are already established in some ASEAN nations, will help to reinforce the new Commission's role.

According to the High Commissioner's office, regional arrangements – such as the one being created by ASEAN – can play an important role in protecting and promoting international human rights standards, including by helping to address shortcomings in national frameworks.
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UN URGES STATES TO STRENGTHEN LIFE-SAVING FACILITIES TO BETTER WITHSTAND DISASTERS

The United Nations today marked World Health Day today with an urgent call for greater investment in hospitals and other health care facilities that play a critical role in saving lives of survivors in the immediate aftermath of humanitarian crises.

In his message commemorating the Day, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted that "when disaster strikes, well-prepared, functioning medical services are a priority.

"Hospitals, clinics and other health facilities must react swiftly and efficiently [and] they must provide safe havens, and not become disaster zones themselves," in the event of floods, earthquakes, the outbreak of infectious diseases and other natural or man-made disasters, Mr. Ban said.

This year's World Health Day campaign – "Save lives, make hospitals safe in emergencies" – is a global call to countries to prepare their health systems for emergencies, he said.

Highlighting the need to protect public health by designing and building facilities that can withstand natural disasters, the Secretary-General said that when "a hospital collapses in an earthquake, burying patients and staff, the human cost multiplies."

"When an infectious disease spreads because a hospital is poorly ventilated or constructed, or because health care workers lack adequate training, we are failing people at their most vulnerable," he added.

The UN World Disaster Reduction Campaign for 2008-2009 has pooled the efforts of the World Heath Organization (WHO), the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) and the World Bank to produce durable health facilities that can stand up to disasters, such as cyclones and earthquakes, said Mr. Ban.

In addition, "we must also ensure they are not targeted during conflicts. Health care workers must be trained to work safely in emergencies, so they can save lives, rather than becoming victims themselves."

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said that it costs "surprisingly little" to build hospitals that can stand up to the shocks of earthquakes, floods, or high winds.

"It costs even less to retrofit existing facilities to keep their services running at critical times [and] it costs almost nothing to integrate risk management and emergency preparedness into a hospital's operational plans," she added in her own statement marking World Health Day.

In South-East Asia more than half a million people lost their lives to natural disasters between 1996 and 2005, accounting for nearly 60 per cent of the global total death toll from natural disasters during that period, according to WHO.

The agency reported that in Aceh, Indonesia, 61per cent of health facilities were damaged or completely destroyed by the 2004 tsunami and cyclone Nargis destroyed 57 per cent of public health facilities in the affected areas in Myanmar last year.

"In some cases, although a facility remains standing, it is still rendered non-functional. Non-structural lifelines such as water and power supply must not fail," said Samlee Plianbangchang, WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia.

"A safe and functional health facility needs contingency plans and a well-trained health workforce ready to deal with emergencies," he added.

Member States in the region have taken steps to make health facilities safer during a disaster with the "Twelve Benchmarks for Emergency Preparedness," a complete set of standards and checklists for making new and existing health facilities more robust created in collaboration with WHO.
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