MEDIA RELEASE
Released By:
Downer
Australia will contribute $1.2 million to the World Health Organisation (WHO)
to help prevent and control outbreaks of SARS in the Western Pacific region.
Australia's contribution will be made through WHO's Western Pacific Regional
Office (WPRO), which is implementing an emergency response to outbreaks of SARS.
The WPRO has responsibility for some of the most affected countries, including
China.
Our urgent support was sought by the WPRO last week and the funds will be
used to deploy experts in epidemiology, infection control, virology and
communicable disease control, procure supplies and equipment and produce
training materials in local languages.
Emergency start-up kits of barrier nursing equipment have already been
purchased and shipped by the WPRO to Kiribati, Fiji, Guam, Samoa, Tonga, Brunei,
Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Laos, the Philippines, Cambodia,
Macao and Mongolia.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, appears to be the first severe
and easily transmissible new disease to emerge in the twenty first century.
According to latest statistics from the WHO (as at 26 April 2003), the total
number of cases reported is 4836 across 26 countries (including nine countries
in the Asia Pacific) with 293 deaths.
A SARS outbreak could quickly become a public health emergency in some
developing countries, where the challenge to stop the spread of SARS through
effective prevention, infection control and treatment will be made more
difficult by limited public health infrastructure.
While SARS presents a global problem, the majority of cases reported so far
have been from Asia, where the disease is already having major economic and
social impacts on our region.
In light of this, the Australian Government believes a regional response is
the most appropriate and effective action at this time.
Contacts:
Chris Kenny (Minister's office) (02) 6277 7500 or 0419 206
890
Jo Elsom (AusAID) (02) 6206 4960 or 0412 804 489