# 2413
It appears to be a quiet morning in Flublogia in advance of this weekend's bird flu conference in Egypt, with little news coming over the transom.
We do have a nice overview of this week's UN report on the global status on avian flu by Lisa Schnirring at CIDRAP.
Here is the report:
And here is Lisa's article. Follow the link to read the entire article.
UN: Pandemic risk remains despite progress on H5N1
Lisa Schnirring
Staff Writer
Oct 23, 2008 (CIDRAP News) – So far this year no new countries have been hit by H5N1 avian influenza outbreaks, and fewer previously affected countries have reported fresh outbreaks, but the threat of an influenza pandemic has not changed, according to a recent progress report from the United Nations (UN) and the World Bank.
The 115-page update on the global avian influenza status and pandemic planning efforts was released in advance of an international conference on avian and pandemic flu that starts tomorrow in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt, according to the UN's summary of the report, the fourth in an annual series.
The report is an analysis of survey responses that the UN's influenza coordinator compiled from 148 countries. The findings also include information that the World Bank provided on the international pledges, commitments, and expenditures for avian influenza prevention and control.
Too little testing
David Nabarro, the UN's influenza coordinator, told reporters at an Oct 21 press conference that despite widespread pandemic planning efforts, only 53% of countries have tested their plans in the past year. He said in a UN press release that the findings are sobering, particularly in light of a recent World Bank report that put the potential economic cost of a global influenza pandemic at up to $3 trillion, nearly 5% of the world's gross domestic product.
"When planning for an extraordinary concern like an influenza pandemic, it's not enough just to have a written plan and have everybody signing off on it," he said in an Oct 21 press release. "You also have to check it, test it, and make sure that it works, and then revise [it] on the basis of assimilation."
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