Global meeting in
London looks ahead in public health
Health Ministers from around the world met today to discuss the
ongoing threat to public health from the current H1N1 pandemic,
maintaining effective responses globally, and looking ahead to how
the pandemic could develop.
The 10 th ministerial meeting of the Global Health Security
Initiative (GHSI), hosted in London by the Department of Health,
was attended by representatives from Canada, France, Germany,
Italy, Japan, Mexico, UK, the US, the European Commission, and the
World Health Organization.
The Initiative, formed in 2001, aims to protect health on a
global scale and enhance our ability to deal with international
chemical, biological and radio-nuclear threats to health, as well
as pandemic influenza.
Public Health Minister, Gillian Merron, chaired the meeting to
conclude the group’s annual work and set the agenda for the next
twelve months. Among the next priorities was urgent consideration
of how the H1N1 virus will progress. This may include the virus
becoming the dominant seasonal strain next year, having
implications for vaccines and other preventive measures.
Gillian Merron said:
“Diseases don’t respect borders so we need an international
response to them. The global effort to tackle the pandemic has
been impressive and would not have been possible without such
cooperation.
“Never before have we been in such a fortunate position to get
vaccine out so quickly, tackling the virus at its peak. Our
solidarity has also meant that crucial evidence and information
could be shared between us.
“Over the last ten years, this initiative has gone from strength
to strength. The coming year will be challenging but, because
Governments can work together on a global scale, public health
will benefit from collective experience and knowledge.”
Further discussions around pandemic ‘flu focused on:
· Vaccines: noting the particular risk to certain
groups, vaccination remains a top priority, offering the best
defence against the virus. Vaccine manufacturers are encouraged to
maintain open communications regarding delivery schedules to
assist Governments in their planning. Members also committed to
continue to share vaccine adverse reaction information.
·
International assistance: the Initiative committed to
maintaining close links with the WHO and international partners to
support other countries needing assistance in responding to the
pandemic.
· Research: sharing evidence and research
about the pandemic will improve the global response.
Key achievements of the last year include:
· Communications: an unprecedented level of
collaboration between the member states has strengthened the
response to pandemic flu – including policy, technical, and risk
communications issues.
· Diagnostics: improved links
have been forged between laboratories worldwide and in partnership
with the WHO. This has assisted with, for example, vaccine-related
research.
· Early alert system: a successful pilot
scheme for an alerting system to monitor and track chemical,
biological and radio-nuclear events.
In addition to future work on pandemic flu, technical working
groups formed by the Initiative will take forward key priorities, including:
· Global infrastructure: establishing a sustainable way
of managing medical countermeasures to ensure effective and cost
effective responses to global issues.
· Mass
gatherings: preparing for and responding to gatherings of
high international consequence, such as the Olympics, and building
effective partnerships required with other key sectors.
·
Decontamination: identifying common challenges and
approaches for the decontamination of people following critical incidents.
Notes to Editors
The full Communiqué detailing the agreements can be downloaded
here:
http://nds.coi.gov.uk/Content/Detail.aspx?ReleaseID=409311&NewsAreaID=2&ClientID=46
2. More information on the GHSI can be found at: http://www.ghsi.ca/english/index.asp
About the Global Health Security Initiative (GHSI)
The GHSI was first established in 2001 as a response to September
11th terrorist events and the subsequent release of anthrax
letters in the US. Global health security covers a wide range of
issues such as generic preparedness and response to encounter
public health crises, pandemic influenza as well as threats caused
by chemical, radio-nuclear and bioterrorism agents (by accidental
or deliberate release).
Each year in preparation for the ministerial level debates, the
GHSI collaboration brings together experts and senior officials
from the G7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK,
US) and Mexico and officials from the European Commission. The
permanent secretariat of the GHSI is in Canada which steers the
annual work programme of the GHSI.
The Global Health Security Action Groups (GHSAG) develop joint
work in five key areas;
· 1. The laboratory working group aims to improve diagnostic
cooperation between laboratories where high threat pathogens like
anthrax can be diagnosed.
· 2. The risk management and communication working group focuses
on risk and threat assessment (establishment of a core list of
threats), media communication and rapid alert mechanisms (an early
alerting and reporting project by GHSI partners is being piloted).
The group has carried out capacity building on specific threats
(e.g. ricin and anthrax).
· 3. Border issues have a particular focus in the pandemic
influenza working group. The differences and the scientific
reasoning for border policy decisions (e.g. on entry screening at
the airports and help for nationals outside of their own
territory) is discussed in the ministerial.
· 4. The chemical working group works on capacity building on
toxic industrial chemicals and a list of chemicals of concern. In
addition, the group is surveying medical countermeasures and areas
for collaboration in drug research.
· 5. The radio-nuclear working group supports the development of
an International Radiological and Nuclear Laboratory Response
Network. In addition, it is looking at possible collaboration on
medical countermeasures research, development and stockpiling.
The full
Contacts:
Department of Health
Phone: 020 7210 5221
NDS.DH@coi.gsi.gov.uk