# 3283
The decision to declare raise the pandemic alert to the 6th, and highest, level has become a bit of a political hot potato, with many countries – fearing negative economic impacts - lobbying for the WHO (World Health Organization) to ignore their criteria for declaring a pandemic.
For a couple of weeks, there was talk about modifying the WHO’s criteria (again), but today we are hearing `unofficially’ that the WHO may make an announcement in the next 10 days.
Before doing so, the WHO is attempting to `massage the message’ to get countries to modify their pandemic plans to deal with something less than a 1918-style pandemic.
This report from Jason Gale, of Bloomberg news.
As always, with one of Jason’s reports, it is well worth following the link to read it in its entirety.
WHO’s Chan Warns Nations Not to Overreact to Swine Flu Pandemic
By Jason Gale
June 4 (Bloomberg) -- The head of the World Health Organization urged governments not to overreact to global outbreaks of swine flu as the agency moves closer to declaring the first pandemic in four decades.
Margaret Chan, the WHO’s director-general, may declare an influenza pandemic within days, said three people familiar with the organization’s plans. Chan, in an interview late yesterday, said a final decision hasn’t been taken, and authorities must use the time before swine flu becomes global to revise emergency plans and convey the measures to their countries’ populations.
Most pandemic plans were crafted for the H5N1 bird flu virus, deadly in three out of five cases. Swine flu, the new bug racing across the world, so far causes little more than a fever and a cough in most patients. Governments must resist the temptation to restrict travel, close borders and adopt other measures that aren’t justified, according to Chan.
“Every country has some kind of pandemic preparedness plan originally meant for H5N1,” she said in a telephone interview from her office at WHO’s Geneva headquarters. “Now they need to look at the plan and make appropriate revisions. It is most important to get the messages right.”
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