Areas reporting confirmed occurrences of H5N1 avian influenza in poultry and wild birds since 2003, status as of December, 15, 2008. From the WHO See the full size version here. In response to the outbreaks of avian flu, public health agencies around the world have been stockpiling Tamiflu. So the idea of an avian flu virus that cannot be treated with Tamiflu is, well...yikes.All of this makes me wonder why the World Health Organization is virtually unheard of in the U.S (and it has only 1,203 fans on Facebook compared to, say, over 600,000 fans for Red Bull). The WHO tracks global epidemics like avian flu and another nightmare pathogen, Ebola. It also more or less eradicated polio and helps developing countries with their healthcare systems.The rules are that if there is an outbreak of contagious disease in your country, you have to share samples of the virus with the WHO That way, the WHO can get scientists to track and analyze the bug (and ideally develop a vaccine), and it can help coordinate a response among public health officials to prevent the spread. No other group can do this-if Washington asked for those samples, many countries would refuse.The WHO is an encouraging, and too rare, example of countries getting over their differences to solve a common problem. The WHO is underfunded and needs reform, but it stands between us and some lethal future pandemic. President Obama, Secretary of State Clinton and Obama's pick for healthcare czar-Senator Tom Daschle-should be sure to support it, talk it up and push to make it as effective an organization as it can be.Guest blogger Nina L. Hachigian is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress.
Areas reporting confirmed occurrences of H5N1 avian influenza in poultry and wild birds since 2003, status as of December, 15, 2008. From the WHO See the full size version here. In response to the outbreaks of avian flu, public health agencies around the world have been stockpiling Tamiflu. So the idea of an avian flu virus that cannot be treated with Tamiflu is, well...yikes.All of this makes me wonder why the World Health Organization is virtually unheard of in the U.S (and it has only 1,203 fans on Facebook compared to, say, over 600,000 fans for Red Bull). The WHO tracks global epidemics like avian flu and another nightmare pathogen, Ebola. It also more or less eradicated polio and helps developing countries with their healthcare systems.The rules are that if there is an outbreak of contagious disease in your country, you have to share samples of the virus with the WHO That way, the WHO can get scientists to track and analyze the bug (and ideally develop a vaccine), and it can help coordinate a response among public health officials to prevent the spread. No other group can do this-if Washington asked for those samples, many countries would refuse.The WHO is an encouraging, and too rare, example of countries getting over their differences to solve a common problem. The WHO is underfunded and needs reform, but it stands between us and some lethal future pandemic. President Obama, Secretary of State Clinton and Obama's pick for healthcare czar-Senator Tom Daschle-should be sure to support it, talk it up and push to make it as effective an organization as it can be.Guest blogger Nina L. Hachigian is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress.