Members of the Asia Pacific Inter-City SARS Prevention Forum yesterday signed a cooperation memorandum, agreeing to establish a Geographical Information System (GIS), an online network to communicate real-time information about SARS and other infectious diseases.
Taipei City Government Bureau of Health Director Chang Hang (張珩) reported that a total of 15 participants from the US, Canada, Vietnam, Singapore, the Philippines, Hong Kong and Japan had signed the memorandum, representing cities, hospitals, and governmental as well as non-governmental organizations.
According to Chang, participants were asked to clarify the organizations and cities they represented before signing. Canada's Commissioner of Public Health, Colin D'Cunha, signed on behalf of Ontario.
Chang stated that representatives from Hong Kong's Hospital Authority and Prince of Wales Hospital had also signed the memorandum, pointing towards more transparency with regards to information on China's SARS situation.
Singapore's Tan Tock Seng Hospital and the Singapore General Hospital were also represented.
Taipei Mayor Ma Yin-jeou (馬英九) signed the memorandum on behalf of the city.
"We've had this idea in mind since the early stages of the SARS outbreak. If SARS comes back now, we can handle it better the second time around," Ma said.
"Forum participants are all at the frontline of SARS prevention. At the very least, they know each other now and can easily pick up the telephone and communicate when necessary," he said.
Ma emphasized that transparency in international relations comes down to human relations.
Chang agreed, reporting that it would take at least 10 days to communicate SARS information via the World Health Organization. He stressed that the said memorandum was established because the speed of sharing information was an important factor.
According to Chang, details still need to be discussed. He explained that the potential disclosure of a patient's private information was an issue that had to be worked out, suggesting that the GIS would require only the location of infected patients.
He reported that forum participants had tentatively agreed to meet once a year.
The memorandum is a token of the recognition that it is in the mutual interest of the participants to develop a cooperative defense system. The memorandum states that participants will freely and openly exchange their experiences with SARS and other communicable diseases, alert each other of cross-border transmissions in a timely fashion and cooperate in research, training and other relevant disciplines.
The memorandum further includes an agreement to collaborate in the fight to control and eradicate not only SARS, but also dengue fever, cholera, Japanese encephalitis, malaria, meningococcal meningitis, E. coli infection, open tuberculosis, AIDS, bacillary dysentery, anthrax, influenza and other communicable diseases.
Chang said that the memorandum's vision was similar to that of an emergency operation center, an information hub that would allow efficient communication.
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