News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – David Nabarro, influenza coordinator for the United Nations (UN), said during a press conference yesterday that the world is better prepared to respond to an influenza pandemic, but he added that continuing outbreaks in some countries are a reminder that a major threat remains.

(CIDRAP News) - The World Health Organization (WHO) recently posted surveillance and status updates for regions where the pandemic H1N1 is just gaining a foothold, including the Mideast, Africa, and parts of Asia and the Pacific, which showed Southeast Asia as the hardest hit of those areas.

(CIDRAP News) – While donor countries and organizations have responded well to the need for pandemic flu vaccine for developing countries, the level of giving for other pandemic response efforts in needy countries so far has fallen short, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a recent report.

(CIDRAP News) – The global H5N1 avian influenza situation has not improved very much since the virus began spreading widely in 2003, and many human cases have probably gone unreported, French health experts conclude in an assessment published yesterday in Eurosurveillance.

(CIDRAP News) – An annual report released yesterday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) profiles a wide range of CDC influenza-related projects around the world, from flu surveillance in Indonesia to vaccine effectiveness studies in El Salvador and epidemiology training in Ghana.