At an international conference on Health Security in Emerging Disasters in the Asia Pacific, in which delegates from 28 countries participated, collaboration between public health sectors on a global level and the "preparedness" of nations were emphasized as being key to minimizing the effects of disasters.
The 37th Asia Pacific Consortium for Public Health (APCPH) conference was held in conjunction with the 2005 Asia Pacific Health Forum in Taipei for the first time yesterday.
Emphasizing the importance of collaboration, APCPH Secretary General Walter Patrick said, "Knowledge knows no boundaries, crisis knows no boundaries, risks know no boundaries. We have to make people think together."
Speaking of Taiwan's defense mechanisms against avian flu, Patrick said that although it was good, Taiwan was surrounded by avian-flu infected countries, and that "no wall" could protect Taiwan, "Not even the great wall of China." As such, he said that a crucial part of protecting Taiwan would be through collaboration with other countries.
Patrick further said that the importance of the collation and accurate broadcasting of data to the public was important in dealing effectively with a disaster, and that leadership in crisis communication should be taught in advance.
"Truth is data," he said.
He said that at a forum about bird flu he attended in Beijing, China, he was convinced that they were doing a good job, increasing the amount of data available through community surveillance, as well as being more open with their information.
Demonstrating the power of modern information technology in the distribution of data Ronald LaPorte, director of disease monitoring and telecommunications at the WHO Collaborating Center, said that within three to five days after the tsunami struck South-East Asia last year, thousands of lectures delivered by experts on tsunamis had been translated into 20 different languages and put on the "supercourse" link that forms part of Pittsburgh University's online resources.
Meanwhile, Manuel Carballo, Executive Director of the International Center for Migration and Health in Geneva, said that the importance of countries' "preparedness" in the event of a disaster could not be stressed enough.
On the subject of the types of communicable diseases that have arisen as a result of the tsunamis, Carballo said that these should have been predicted and that "the biggest lesson time and time again is that the answer is not human relief organizations but preparedness."
"If we look at the avian flu, which is possibly going to affect the entire world, less than 12 countries have national action plans to deal with this emergency. This is an example of something about to occur, yet countries are still not developing the types of action plans required to respond accordingly," he said.
Carballo also reported on conclusions drawn at a conference he attended last week regarding the public-health consequences of last year's tsunami.
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