Scribes sensitised to bird flu at Kolkata meet

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Mar 29: A meeting on sensitisation of regional media about avian influenza participated by around 40 media persons from the North Eastern States, Bihar, Delhi, Jhar-khand, Orissa and West Bengal was held at Hotel Taj Bengal at Kolkata on March 27.
Addressing the gathering, Special Director General of Health Services and Director of the National Institute of Communicable Diseases, Government of India, Dr Shiv Lal said that the Govt has formulated a strategic plan to tackle the disease.
The plan is based on checking spread of H5NI virus which causes the disease to man.
To facilitate intensified collaboration between Animal and Health Departments both at Central and State levels in the event of the outbreak of the disease, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has stock-piled one million doses of the drug Oseltamivir (also known as Tamil Flu) as well as requisite quantities of personal protection equipment (PPE), he said.
The Serum Institute of India has been entrusted to manufacture pre-pandemic and pandemic vaccines to face any eventuality in case there is any extensive outbreak of avian influenza.
In the aftermath of the outbreak of avian influenza in Maharastra in February 2006, the WHO has designated the National Institute of Virology Pune as the Regional Reference Labo- ratory.
Moreover, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has been conducting integrated disease surveillance in public health institutions and laboratories, Dr Shiv Lal said. On the other hand, the Government of India has already trained Rapid Res- ponse teams at Central and State levels.
Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Dr RS Shukla also appreciated the role taken by media when the diseases was first reported in West Bengal in 2008.
During the workshop jointly organised by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, WHO, FAO and UNICEF also deliberated on the possible roles the media should take and measures that may be taken up by the relevant Departments in case of the outbreak of the disease and the pandemic threat it posed to human lives.
The workshop discussed in detail the possible steps that may be taken up by media when the highly pathogenic H5NI virus infects thousands of people and the situation reaches a pandemic stage when there are large human casualty, schools are closed, movement of people restricted and even cremation of dead bodies is prohibited.
The media persons conducted group discussion and made presentations to the Ministry and UNICEF to implement their observations.
The meeting agreed on formulating a strategy to create awareness among the people extensively on the issue of avian influenza.
It further discussed on the media acting as catalysing agents towards changing the attitude of backyard poultry farmers, producers, traders and sellers regarding the disease.
Taking part in the workshop Chief of Communication, UNICEF India Country Office Angela Walker said that FAO and WHO as UN’s leading technical agencies for animal and human health, have the lead roles in communicating technical information on the progression of virus. However, because children account for nearly half of all reported human cases and impact of avian influenza goes well beyond the immediate risk to their health, UNICEF has an obligation to advocate for the specific needs of children. Further adding the roles of international agencies such as UN as a part of broader strategy for prevention and containment of avian influenza, it aims to communicate relevant information at various stages of AI and pandemic preparedness.