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Editorial: Health politics and halting bird flu

The world is now on guard against avian flu. It first reared its ugly head in Hong Kong, Vietnam and Thailand, and has since made an appearance in Romania and Turkey in Europe, with one case even reported in Greece. This has caused considerable anxiety in the EU, and Europe's governments are trying to devise a way to halt its spread.

Avian flu is a new viral strain to which humans have yet to develop antibodies and its high fatality rate has prompted concern in the medical community. The virus has yet to make itself felt in Taiwan, but a degree of panic is starting to take hold: Anxiety over the virus caused the stock market to fall over 130 points on Monday and yesterday.

October is the migratory season for birds. In the past, these visitors have been welcomed, and in many places around the island special events are held to celebrate their arrival. This year, however, these migratory birds are likely to be seen as carriers of danger rather than welcome guests.

As early as Aug. 19, the National Security Council met to discuss how to cope with the threat, pledging NT$20 billion (US$594 million) toward prevention. Additionally, hospitals have adopted preventative measures, as they did during the 2003 outbreak of SARS.

The Center for Disease Control (疾病管制局), meanwhile, has approached the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche concerning joint production of Tamiflu, the leading drug against avian flu.

The public has cause for alarm, but should not panic.

Although the government is already preparing to tackle a potential pandemic, a recent CDC survey showed that while 90 percent of Taiwanese had heard of avian flu, around 80 percent did not have a clue how to deal with it.

The general public are not sufficiently informed on how to protect themselves.

What's worse, the recent spate of news coverage will likely only make people more nervous. The Department of Health and the media should work together to educate the public on how to fight the flu.

Given that it is impossible to quarantine all of the birds entering Taiwan, the public should avoid contact with them to reduce the chances of transmission. The Department of Health should continue to strengthen entry and customs inspections and maintain fever checkpoints at airports.

In addition, the government should warn the public not to get close to, touch or feed any birds, and people should report any cases of fever to the health authorities immediately.

Taiwanese, like everyone else in the world, are concerned about the spread of this disease. But as Taiwan is not a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) -- because of China's incessant political interference -- it is excluded from the global disease prevention and control network. As a result, it can only seek help indirectly from other WHO member nations. This makes a mockery of the WHO's humanitarian and sans frontier claims. It also poses a threat to the Taiwanese population, and leaves open a loophole in the international public health network.

Whether looked at from the perspective of Taiwan's basic rights to healthcare or global disease prevention, we can never allow the nightmare of our near-solitary fight against the SARS epidemic in 2003 to happen again.

Instead, the WHO should accept Taiwan's application to become an observer nation. Human lives must be put before politics.
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