Thank you for this invitation and it is my pleasure to join
you in this important meeting - The South East Asian Red Cross
Red Crescent Societies regional meeting on Avian Flu.
It is indeed very timely for the Red Cross and Red Crescent
to organise such a meeting after a number of Avian and Human
influenza meetings already organised by UN agencies, World Health
Organisation and others where the International Federation has
participated.
The recent Geneva meeting in November, the discussion among
different organisations and world leaders focused on the 'challenge
of a coordinated international response'.
There is a strong call for commitment, coordination and providing
people and community on what to do and what is correct to do
in different circumstances - the communication strategy in prevention,
preparedness and response in Avian and Human Flu.
As the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, we
have the responsibility in this commitment too with Red Cross
help being of an auxiliary and complementary nature to the public
authorities. A flu pandemic is too BIG a threat for one organisation
or sector. It demands a joint and collective effort. Community
and people are at the very centre of all these efforts.
This commitment is stressed further after Dr David Nabarro,
the UN Senior coordinator for Avian and Human Flu presented
his speech in our general assembly a few weeks ago in Seoul.
A decision was adopted with the presence of our worldwide network
of National Societies. The decision states that the International
Federation takes account of worldwide action to prepare for
the possibility of an influenza pandemic and encourages all
National Societies to contact their Ministries of Health and
other appropriate authorities in their country, and integrate
their resources into national planning to address the avian
influenza epidemic and the threat of a human influenza pandemic.
We need and must prepare and be ready for response. Now is the
time for us to plan ahead and act. The Avian Flu is evolving
and is crossing borders. Lives have already been lost and families
affected as the clock continues to tick. There is a human face
and voice behind this. Children have lost their mothers. Families
have lost their livelihood. We need to advocate for more to
be done to reduce further suffering. We must make sure the affected
people are not being stigmatised nor marginalised.
The community and the vulnerable people expect the Red Cross
and Red Crescent with its government to be there working with
them side by side in times of disaster and emerging threat.
And let us remember the already vulnerable people will always
be at the forefront being the hardest hit when the pandemic
does approach.
Equal access to 'simple and understandable messages' should
be available not only to the people who can read or write but
also to the more vulnerable communities living in the rural
areas and workers in the poultry farms. They have the right
to know how to look after themselves and tell their families
how to take preventive measures to prevent and prepare for Avian
and human flu. The Red Cross and Red Crescent has a role to
play bringing these key messages to the people.
Our volunteers and staff already have experience working with
communities and vulnerable groups, visiting them house to house.
I know in some national societies, you are already incorporating
this information about prevention into the current community
based programme - in East Timor, Philippines and others.
The experience in SARS highlighted the importance of coordination
among governments, civil societies, WHO, CDC so that the correct
information is used and rumours are stepped out as soon as they
start. Some of our national societies are already in dialogue
with their governments taking part in intra agency taskforce,
such as in Indonesia.
Coordination also is very important for us within the Red Cross
movement. It is very encouraging to see how our colleagues here
from the Indonesian Red Cross, ICRC and Federation country delegation
and bilateral societies are working together in organising this
meeting.
Thank you for taking a lead on this. This is a sign of commitment
and this will enhance a discussion on the regional commitment
among other national societies in this meeting. This coordination
can maximise the use of resources within the movement so that
we can make a bigger and better contribution in the international
response.
We need the leadership of our government, our already strong
partner WHO in providing us technical guidance and we need other
grass root organisations and communities to join us in making
the prevention, preparedness and response work.
As a Movement, we need to share our experiences and resources
better, using conference calls, intranets and meetings. We also
need to work across sectors, so we can build on our existing
response system. It is really good to hear that cross sectoral
taskforce are being set up in National Societies.
Thank you for being here in this important meeting. We need
the commitment from all of us working together. More importantly
we need your commitment to ensure that your volunteers and local
branches are inspired and prepared for this upcoming threat
in a calm and planned manner. Your volunteers, communities and
branches also need your support in facing the challenges ahead.
In SARS, we learnt that when the number of cases affected increased
and number of people needed to be isolated and quarantined increased,
then there may be a need for Red Cross and Red Crescent to get
involved in care and support.
Not forgetting when the pandemic does come, it will also directly
affect the formal government structures and our own organisations.
We need to be prepared in order to know how to respond in the
most effective way with also sufficient protection and appropriate
training for our volunteers and staff.
Community and vulnerable people, coordination and commitment
are important for us to prepare and be ready to respond. We
need to work together and advocate that the community, governments,
UN agencies, WHO, private sector, the Red Cross movement and
other grass root organisations should all have our defined role
to play in order to make a difference to minimise the impact
of this potential flu pandemic.
This must be the clear message that we should jointly take to
the Beijing meeting in January next year. The meeting is organised
by the Chinese government, the European Commission and the World
Bank to mobilise financial resources and set up management mechanism.
A BIG threat of Avian flu and potential human influenza pandemic
will require scaling up of our effort.
And let us not forget the community and people who still need
our attention and support in Malaria, HIV/AIDS and other diseases
which take thousand of lives each day.
Thank you once again for giving me this time and I wish you
a very fruitful meeting tomorrow.
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