obmar
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OIC Health Ministerial Conference on Wednesday KLThree issues identified
AUDREY EDWARDS and LISA GOH at the Kuala Lumpur-OIC Health Ministerial Conference on Wednesday.
PREPARING for an influenza pandemic, producing vaccines and developing a fatwa on smoking and health were among the issues which emerged from a two-day scientific programme and expected to form the basis of a draft resolution for senior health officers at the KL-Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) Health Ministerial Conference.
The draft resolution will be presented to OIC health ministers for deliberation to become the KL Declaration 2007, which will be announced tomorrow.
Break time: (From left, foreground) Dr Hassan Abdul Rahman, Regional Adviser of Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response Dr Hassan El Bushra, Deputy Director of Turkey’s Health Ministry Dr Fehmi Aydinli and member of the Muslim Resource Group CDC-USA Dr Shahul Ebrahim having a chat after the talk on the National Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Plan in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday. — Bernama
Among the steps recommended in preparing to combat an influenza pandemic and bird flu were having preparedness plans and infection control practices in each member country, strengthening capabilities and capacities to produce anti-viral drugs and vaccines, and having a planning guide where non-pharmaceutical interventions are used to help delay a pandemic.
There was also concern about the gap that existed in preparedness by member states and other developed countries, the lack of contingency plans by the private sector globally, and a need for governments and every level of society within a country to work closer.
The strengthening of national regulatory authorities in member states has been encouraged in order to ensure a reliable supply of quality, safe and affordable vaccines so that countries can be self-reliant and self-sufficient in their immunisation programmes.
Malaysia has already initiated the move to produce halal vaccines for itself and OIC member countries. Production is to be carried out by the National Institute for Natural Products, Vaccines and Biologicals (9Bio), which is an OIC self-reliant vaccine production group member.
The issue of smoking, where some of the member countries, especially Bahrain, have high consumption, has led to a call for the drawing up and adoption of a fatwa on smoking and health, and passing legislation as the main element in tobacco control.
When met midway yesterday during the senior health officers' meeting to conclude the technical sessions, Health Ministry director-general Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican said that there were eight resolutions to be discussed where the majority of member countries were “quite happy” with what had been drafted.
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obmar
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Flu pandemic may affect millionsThursday June 14, 2007
Flu pandemic may affect millions
AN estimated seven million people in Malaysia could be affected if the country were to be hit by an influenza pandemic.
Between 2% and 22% of those affected would require hospitalisation and at least 5,000 patients would be admitted to the intensive care unit of hospitals nationwide.
This is based on facts given by the World Health Organisation (WHO), which set the attack rate of the pandemic at 30% and by the current population of 26 million.
Health Ministry disease control division director Datuk Dr Hassan Abdul Rahman said yesterday the burden on the country would be high and it was important to have the necessary preparations to meet the challenge of a rapidly spreading pandemic.
“The healthcare system will be overloaded,” he said during his presentation at the Pandemic Human Influenza/Avian preparedness within the Organisation of Islamic Conference seminar.
The conference will be opened by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today.
Dr Hassan also said that there was a 90% chance that the pandemic would start in Asia but only 10% of anti-viral drugs and vaccines would be available to the region, while the bulk would be available for the developed world.
Malaysia had launched its National Influenza Pandemic Preparation Plan in January last year where among its functions was to have proper public health preparations, surveillance, vaccination and standard operative procedures.
Later when talking to the press, Dr Hassan said that the private sector would be involved in simulation exercises carried out by the ministry, and expressed confidence that the country would be able to handle a pandemic with the preparedness plan, stockpiling of drugs and hospitals.
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The Inquisitor
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obmar,
I don't believe in all these scare tactics about pandemic this and endemic that. First it's the bird flu, and now influenza (same dif).
Just a bunch of doctors on a slow day trying to drum up news out of nothing.
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obmar
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Health in Islamic countries need to be improved...
Friday June 15, 2007
Public health needs attention, says Abdullah
KUALA LUMPUR: The quality of public health in OIC member countries should be raised, as infants and children in the Islamic countries face the highest risk in the spread of infectious diseases and mortality rates.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said it was unfortunate that the population in Muslim countries had been left behind in combating mortality rates and risked more in catching infectious diseases.
He said that seven of the 10 OIC nations in the 56-member grouping had the highest infant mortality rates, while very few Islamic countries including Malaysia, Bahrain and Brunei, registered infant mortality rates of lower than 10 per 1,000 live births.
The situation was also compounded by a funding gap in the production of immunisation vaccines among OIC members, he added.
Impressive project: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi looking at a model of the National Institute of Natural Products, Vaccines and Biologicals Complex (9 BIO) in Nilai at The KL-OIC Health Ministerial Conference 2007 in Bandar Sunway yesterday. With him are (from left) OIC secretary-general Prof Dr EkmeleddinI Ihsanoglu, Health Ministry director-general Tan Sri Dr Mohd Ismail Merican, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek and the African Network of Islamic Organisations on Population and Development (Senegal) chairman Medina Grand Imam Shaykh Hassan Ali Cisse.
“The state of public health in Muslim countries is a tragedy, not only because the outlook is bleak. It’s because there is so much we can do to prevent needless deaths and suffering,” he said in his keynote address at the launch of the Kuala Lumpur OIC-Health Ministerial Conference 2007 here yesterday.
Abdullah said while there had been initiatives to improve the quality of health in Islamic countries through funding by the Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank, OIC member states needed to enhance cooperation and bring it up several levels.
He said that one area that was ripe for further collaboration was self-reliance in vaccine production, and called for OIC members to collaborate in the production of halal vaccines.
Abdullah advised Muslim countries to be transparent to other stakeholders such as the World Health Organisation and Centre Control of the United States in tackling serious threats to public health.
“We need to recognise the importance of public health to the development of the ummah and discussions on health within the framework of the OIC.
“More critically, we must pool our resources, share expertise and work together to improve the condition of the ummah,” he added.
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obmar
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Friday June 15, 2007
Malaysia to chair panel on making vaccines
MALAYSIA will chair a steering committee comprising representatives from governments and vaccine producers to help the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) member countries become self-reliant in producing vaccines.
The Self-Reliance in Vaccine Production Committee will be headed by the country’s National Institute for Natural Products, Vaccines and Biologicals (9Bio) and is expected to start work within the year.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said the committee was formed because there was a feeling among OIC members that they should be self-reliant in producing vaccines due to halal and non-halal concerns.
“They have appointed Malaysia to be chairman of the steering committee in producing vaccines that are safe, effective and affordable,” he told reporters yesterday on the sidelines of the KL-OIC Health Ministerial Conference.
The committee would also help producers, whether private or public, fulfil World Health Organisation pre-qualification status to start producing vaccines of accepted standards.
Dr Chua said they were also looking at how to establish strategic partnerships with multinational companies with an established track record in order to help “jump-start” the committee.
Earlier in his speech, Dr Chua said that infectious diseases remained the second leading cause of death globally, with 14.1 million deaths in 2001.
He added that the dramatic changes in society, technology and the environment, together with diminished effectiveness in certain disease control approaches, had caused infectious diseases to expand or re-emerge.
“Health has therefore become an important dimension in the foreign relationship between nations. It is a common challenge to all nations.
“At the same time, it provides an excellent opportunity to strengthen solidarity within and between nations to face these infectious diseases.”
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