News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – The United Nations today signaled a new level of concern about avian influenza and the risk of a flu pandemic by naming a special coordinator of all UN responses to the situation.

Dr. David Nabarro, a British public health expert with the World Health Organization (WHO), was named to the new job of "UN system coordinator for avian and human influenza."

(CIDRAP News) – A World Health Organization (WHO) official today said the peak of the epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has passed in places other than China and Hong Kong, despite the continuing increase in cases.