Is the new strain of influenza that has hit all corners of the globe in recent weeks a flu pandemic? It is difficult to know because the WHO has yet to offer a definitive answer. However, the WHO’s classification of the A(H1N1) outbreak as a Phase 5 outbreak is wrong.
A Phase 5 alert “is characterized by human-to-human spread of the virus into at least two countries in one WHO region.”
The WHO classifies the world into six regions, namely Africa, the Americas, Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean, Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific.
The highest possible pandemic alert is Phase 6, which “is characterized by community level outbreaks in at least one other country in a different WHO region in addition to the criteria defined in Phase 5,” or, in other words, a “global flu pandemic.”
Japan, which is part of the Western Pacific region, and the UK, part of the European region, experienced serious community-level outbreaks some time ago, with hundreds of people infected.
Strangely enough, even after news of the tranmissions in those two countries started spreading, the WHO did not raise the influenza pandemic alert to Phase 6.
The reason is that last week, countries such as the UK and Japan determined that the latest flu strain was weak, causing only mild symptoms, and that the WHO should therefore not raise the alarm to Phase 6.
The problem lies in the plans that these countries have implemented for pandemics. These plans are designed to prepare for the worst and treat any outbreak as extremely serious to gain immediate control of the situation. In other words, as soon as the WHO announces a Phase 6 influenza pandemic alert, these countries must immediately dispense their stocks of Tamiflu and other drugs to all citizens, close all schools and other public places and immediately develop a vaccine.
If the WHO were to announce a Phase 6 influenza pandemic alert, the economic activity of these countries would suffer. Such an announcement would also interfere with the operations of their medical systems, inconvenience the public and cause widespread panic. This is too high a price to pay for a flu of relatively weak virulence.
It would be a waste of valuable Tamiflu stocks and other anti-flu drugs if they were used for the current epidemic. This could also result in the emergence of drug-resistant flu strains in those countries. Depleting anti-flu stocks for a mild epidemic could be problematic if a more virulent strain were to emerge in autumn or winter.
It is worth asking ourselves whether considerations such as these are behind the WHO’s decision not to announce a Phase 6 influenza pandemic alert.
The WHO has said that the latest outbreak is an “unpredictable flu,” ostensibly to defend itself against ridicule. In addition, the WHO has taken many other actions of questionable value.
For example, the organization stopped insisting on naming the virus “swine flu” and changed its designation to A(H1NI) after being pressured by the world’s largest pork exporters.
To please China, meanwhile, it has listed information on A(H1N1) infections in Taiwan under China.
The WHO is no longer a non-biased health organization that cares for universal values, Rather, it appears to have turned into a political body.
Liou Pei-pai is the former director of the Taiwan Animal Health Research Institute.
TRANSLATED BY DREW CAMERON
In an article published in Newsweek on Monday last week, President William Lai (賴清德) challenged China to retake territories it lost to Russia in the 19th century rather than invade Taiwan. “If it is really for the sake of territorial integrity, why doesn’t China take back Russia?” Lai asked, referring to territories lost in 1858 and 1860. The territories once made up the two flanks of northern Manchuria. Once ceded to Russia, they became part of the Russian far east. Claims since then have been made that China and Russia settled the disputes in the 1990s through the 2000s and that “China
Trips to the Kenting Peninsula in Pingtung County have dredged up a lot of public debate and furor, with many complaints about how expensive and unreasonable lodging is. Some people even call it a tourist “butchering ground.” Many local business owners stake claims to beach areas by setting up parasols and driving away people who do not rent them. The managing authority for the area — Kenting National Park — has long ignored the issue. Ultimately, this has affected the willingness of domestic travelers to go there, causing tourist numbers to plummet. In 2008, Taiwan opened the door to Chinese tourists and in
Because much of what former US president Donald Trump says is unhinged and histrionic, it is tempting to dismiss all of it as bunk. Yet the potential future president has a populist knack for sounding alarums that resonate with the zeitgeist — for example, with growing anxiety about World War III and nuclear Armageddon. “We’re a failing nation,” Trump ranted during his US presidential debate against US Vice President Kamala Harris in one particularly meandering answer (the one that also recycled urban myths about immigrants eating cats). “And what, what’s going on here, you’re going to end up in World War
On Tuesday, President William Lai (賴清德) met with a delegation from the Hoover Institution, a think tank based at Stanford University in California, to discuss strengthening US-Taiwan relations and enhancing peace and stability in the region. The delegation was led by James Ellis Jr, co-chair of the institution’s Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region project and former commander of the US Strategic Command. It also included former Australian minister for foreign affairs Marise Payne, influential US academics and other former policymakers. Think tank diplomacy is an important component of Taiwan’s efforts to maintain high-level dialogue with other nations with which it does