Asian responders practice bird flu response | 04.03.2007 | 07:31:29 | Views: 6054 | ID: April 3 '07: The World Health Organization and members of response communities in Japan and Southeast Asia participated in a simulated bird flu pandemic response exercise, Agence France-Presse reported. More than 1,000 experts and responders were involved in the exercises in Manila, Philippines. Officials said the goal of the exercise was to practice a rapid response and fielding of personnel to contain an outbreak. AFP reported, "In the simulation, goggles and masks were also 'dispatched' from a stockpile managed by a private contractor in Singapore and Cambodia." "The exercise involved an [sic] supposed outbreak of the human strain of bird flu in a fictitious area of Cambodia, where about 9,500 people in 20 villages were at risk of getting infected," AFP wrote. WHO regional spokesman Peter Cordingley told the French wire news service, "The exercise ... is a test of rapid communications within the partners taking part: ASEAN, Japan, Cambodia and WHO ... [The exercise was] a learning process." "We will be trying to establish what obstacles might crop up in a real-life situation," Cordingley continued. "This will help us be better prepared if there is a real crisis."
Copyright ©2007 TheBreakingNews.com. All Rights Reserved. No reproduction in part or full without prior written permission.
|