Responding to an Influenza Pandemic in the Americas
Through a grant to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the Pan American Health and Education Foundation supported the CSIS Americas Program Proceedings on "Responding to an Influenza Pandemic in the Americas" at the CSIS Conference Center in Washington, DC on May 24, 2006.
The proceedings were jointly hosted by CSIS and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), and were attended by professionals in public health, communicable diseases, economics, foreign affairs, veterinary public health, emergency preparedness, epidemiology, and the like.
Ambassador Peter DeShazo, director of the CSIS Americas Program, and Dr. Carissa Etienne, PAHO’s assistant director, opened the proceedings with welcoming remarks and an overview of the threat of an avian influenza pandemic in the
Western Hemisphere and what has been done to date to address that threat.
Next the US State Department’s Dr. Paula J. Dobriansky, under secretary of state for democracy and global affairs, spoke about the need for cooperation on a response to an pandemic should the avian influenza appear in the Western Hemisphere. The State Department would be the lead US agency coordinating US actions internationally.
Two panel discussions followed by a question and answer period focused on animal health, human health, and the economic impact of an avian influenza pandemic as well as emergency planning and management and surveillance, prevention, and control.
The keynote speaker was Assistant Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Albert R. Ramdin, who reiterated the need for planning and vigilance.
Please click here to read the report. In the future, the report will also be available in the other languages of the Americas through CSIS.
Photo source: Office of Caribbean Program Coordination, Pan American Health Organization
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