THURSDAY, Nov. 3, 2005 (HealthDay News) -- Calling the threat of a human pandemic of avian influenza "an extraordinary collective challenge" for all countries, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday outlined a seven-point strategy to prepare for and curb the spread of any future outbreak.
He and other leaders -- including former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Microsoft mogul Bill Gates -- also applauded this week's announcement by the Bush Administration of a $7 billion strategy to cope with any potential global bird flu pandemic from the current H5N1 strain. Experts estimate that such a pandemic could cost the lives of millions worldwide.
"Whatever we may not know about the future course of H5N1, we do know this: Once human-to-human transmission has been established, we would only have a matter of weeks to lock down the spread before it spins out of control," Annan told attendees at the three-day Time Global Health Summit in New York City. "And we must be honest and admit to ourselves that merely stockpiling antiviral medicines does not constitute a strategy to fight avian flu."
Instead, the U.N. leader outlined his seven-point plan for preventing, detecting and minimizing any human-to-human outbreak of H5N1, which has been transmitted from infected birds to humans, killing 62 people in Asia.
The plan encompasses:
Clinton and Gates -- both major philanthropists focused on issues of global health -- were asked in a joint interview at the summit late Wednesday about their views of pandemic preparations and the planned U.S. strategy.
The $7.1 billion White House plan, outlined in detail on Wednesday, includes manufacturing enough vaccine to protect 20 million Americans in the event of an outbreak and stockpiling up to 81 million courses of antivirals over the next two years.
"The President's first responsibility is to the American people," Clinton said. "We do have serious vaccine shortages generally. I remember [that] late in my second term, I spent a whole day working on biological dangers to America, the possibility of biological warfare, terrorist acts. And I was shocked by what had happened to a lot of the vaccine stores, and how ill-prepared we were."
Gates added that research earmarked for H5N1 vaccine might yield unexpected benefits. "Hopefully, out of the research that gets funded here, we can have a flu vaccine that works against all forms, [an] approach that would save a lot of lives," he said. "Flu kills a lot of people in the world at large every year."
Clinton said he remains hopeful that any flu pandemic would be less devastating than the last major outbreak -- 1918's Spanish flu, which claimed up to 100 million lives worldwide.
"We know generally how to try and develop an effective vaccine, and we're much more sensitive to the preventive measures," he said. "So, I'm personally glad my government is trying to deal with this before it hits here and we have people dying."
More information
For more on avian flu, head to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.