APEC wants to cooperate with bird flu

Leaders from 21 member countries and territories of the Asia-Pacific region called for a collaborative effort to prevent bird flu pandemic, which emphasized solidarity in seeking vaccines.

The APEC forum is taking place in Korea

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC) has just opened on November 12 in the port city of Busan, South Korea. It is expected that the leaders of the countries will also discuss an action plan, which emphasizes "anti-pandemic cooperation and vaccine development", and at the same time to strengthen sharing all relevant information in a way. apparently, Korean Ambassador Kim Jong-Hoon was present at APEC. The workshop also mentioned the issue of reserve drug Tamiflu and the relaxation of the laws on intellectual property rights of this drug before the pandemic.

APEC members also agreed to hold an independent workshop with the participation of APEC ministers in Vietnam in the first 6 months of 2006; and a new symposium on epidemics in April in Beijing, China.

Last month in Australia, senior health officials and the World Health Organization discussed the "nightmare" scenario of a bird flu pandemic, threatening the lives of millions of people in Asia. Pacific. The workshop also focused on how governments will react if the H5N1 virus mutates into a new strain that easily spreads from person to person.

My Linh (according to AFP)