AP Features, June 18th, 2007
New international health rules that require countries to report disease outbreaks that pose a global health threat will lead to greater openness and enhanced public health security, a top official of the World Health Organization said.
Dr. David Heymann, the WHO's top bird flu official, said Sunday the International Health Regulations, which came into force on June 15, will change the way infectious diseases are managed on a global level.
Heymann was in Toronto for the opening of a international conference on influenza known as Options for the Control of Influenza.
The new regulations require countries to notify WHO of all events that may constitute a public health emergency of international concern. They also require inspection and control activities at designated international airports, ports and border crossings to prevent the spread of diseases.
"We've been able to change the norm. Countries understand now that you can't hide infectious diseases and that it's honorable to report, even if it costs you money," Heymann said.
Dr. David Butler-Jones, Canada's chief public health officer, said the new regulations reflect the global community's belief that disease threats must be addressed in a coordinated and open way.
"It's the realization that we need to as countries work together to address these things," he said.
The new rules, endorsed by the 193 member countries of the WHO, expand an earlier set of disease reporting rules that required countries to report outbreaks of only three diseases _ yellow fever, cholera and plague.
Epidemics of Ebola virus and the 2003 SARS outbreak spurred a rewriting of the rules to extend them more broadly to known and future disease threats.
SARS _ severe acute respiratory syndrome _ killed several hundred people in 2003 and caused widespread panic, damaging the economies of the countries affected. China was widely criticized in the early stages of SARS for not going public with its cases.
Butler-Jones said experiences like SARS have driven home for countries the importance of addressing disease outbreaks in a rapid way at the source, so that they do not slip across into other states.
