Health unions network needed to deal with SARS, says think-tank

Date: 30/04/03

By Martin Banks

THE World Health Organization (WHO) is incapable of dealing with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome alone, a Brussels conference on the pneumonia-like viral epidemic heard.

Dr Willem van der Geest, director of the European Institute for Asian Studies think-tank, called for a network of 'health unions' to be created to help the WHO tackle the outbreak or future epidemics on the scale of the virus, known as SARS.

"The WHO record on dealing with mass epidemics is, let's be honest, not that great. The organization has a worldwide staff of only 3,500 and lacks the necessary resources. That is why I don't think it is the best body to deal with such events," he said.

Van der Geest argued that the global impact of SARS meant a more sophisticated response was needed: "Global public health is a transnational issue, in many ways similar to other transnational issues such as crime, drugs or terrorism. Viruses do not care much about national borders - they cross them without needing visas or passports.

"To address these transnational issues solely through an international community of organizations [such as the WHO] may not prove adequate."

Instead, he advocates setting up a 'health unions' network, explaining: "These would be collaborations between competent health authorities in research and prevention in different territories which would be a member of an organization such as the WHO."

Although the Geneva-based organization was designed to coordinate relevant authorities in cases such as the SARS outbreak, it was clear there had been a serious breakdown in the response to the current crisis, he said.

"Coordinated responses within China were inadequate. Evidently, the interests of other territories in the region such as Hong Kong and Taiwan were not served to the best possible standard either," he told the conference.

The WHO, which represents 192 countries, was strongly criticized by the Canadian authorities last week after it advised travellers to avoid Toronto, where the epidemic has claimed 21 lives.

Worldwide, the SARS outbreak has killed 330 people, with more than 3,000 infected. It has spread to ten countries, with the highest incidence in China and Hong Kong.

There are 84 suspected cases of the disease in the EU, with 27 regarded as "very probable" infections.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is incapable of dealing with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome alone, a Brussels conference on the pneumonia-like viral epidemic heard.