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Indonesia says US critics helped push WHO to change virus-sharing system
June 2, 2007
JAKARTA (AP): Anti-US sentiment contributed to Indonesia's success in leading developing countries to push the U.N. health body into agreeing to change a 50-year-old influenza virus-sharing system, the health minister said.
Iran, Iraq, Cuba, North Korea, Bolivia and Myanmar were among the 23 countries supporting Indonesia's argument that the existing system of unconditional sample-sharing was unfair to poorer nations, because they could not afford commercial vaccines.
They were equally upset that the vaccines might have been created from virus samples supplied by the developing countries to the World Health Organization.
"The countries that immediately signed their support for our draft resolution were not very fond of the United States," Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari told reporters.
The preliminary deal, reached at the World Health Assembly on May 2 outlines in broad terms how governments will work together to combat the threat of bird flu, included a tentative agreement to share virus samples. But its implementation is voluntary, and exceptions are possible.
Indonesia especially appreciated the support of Iran, Supari said. Its government provided Jakarta with an international lawyer to fight attorneys from the United States.
Supari's country resumed sharing virus samples with the international community this month following a yearlong hiatus.
She said WHO members will meet in October in Jakarta to formulate a mechanism that guarantees "timely sharing of viruses" between affected countries and the U.N. health body.
Indonesia says US critics helped push WHO to change virus-sharing system
June 2, 2007
JAKARTA (AP): Anti-US sentiment contributed to Indonesia's success in leading developing countries to push the U.N. health body into agreeing to change a 50-year-old influenza virus-sharing system, the health minister said.
Iran, Iraq, Cuba, North Korea, Bolivia and Myanmar were among the 23 countries supporting Indonesia's argument that the existing system of unconditional sample-sharing was unfair to poorer nations, because they could not afford commercial vaccines.
They were equally upset that the vaccines might have been created from virus samples supplied by the developing countries to the World Health Organization.
"The countries that immediately signed their support for our draft resolution were not very fond of the United States," Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari told reporters.
The preliminary deal, reached at the World Health Assembly on May 2 outlines in broad terms how governments will work together to combat the threat of bird flu, included a tentative agreement to share virus samples. But its implementation is voluntary, and exceptions are possible.
Indonesia especially appreciated the support of Iran, Supari said. Its government provided Jakarta with an international lawyer to fight attorneys from the United States.
Supari's country resumed sharing virus samples with the international community this month following a yearlong hiatus.
She said WHO members will meet in October in Jakarta to formulate a mechanism that guarantees "timely sharing of viruses" between affected countries and the U.N. health body.
