מתוך medicontext.co.il

By Stephen Pincock

LONDON (Reuters Health) – Representatives of the world's doctors on Thursday called for global cooperation between physicians and medical associations to improve preparedness for possible biological or chemical attacks.

At a council meeting in the French town of Ferney-Voltaire, near the Swiss border, The World Medical Association (WMA) urged doctors to be alert to the occurrence of unexplained illnesses and deaths in all communities, and to communicate this information to their local or national health authorities.

WMA Secretary General, Dr. Delon Human, said that the association, which brings together the leaders of some 70 countries' doctors, was developing an electronic communication network to enhance responses to potential future events.

"In the wake of the New York tragedy, it became apparent that the existing communications networks might be inadequate," Dr. Human told Reuters Health. "If we consider the possibility of an attack with biological or chemical weapons it becomes critically important for individual physicians to communicate directly with each other."

The WMA already has an electronic network in place that allows communication between the worldwide body and the individual national medical associations within minutes, Dr. Human said. What remains is for individual doctors to be better connected within countries, so that unexplained diseases can be rapidly reported.

Dr. Human added that the network was also envisaged as a channel for the training of doctors in how to respond to possible attack with deadly diseases such as anthrax, botulism or smallpox.

A similar suggestion was made at the meeting by American Medical Association (AMA) representatives. The association's president, Dr. Richard Corlin, proposed the WMA adopt a policy to build an international consortium of medical and public health leaders to help train health professionals in response methods and to facilitate stockpiling of vaccines and pharmaceuticals to tackle the illnesses.

"We are deeply concerned about the possibility of future terrorist attacks making use of chemical and/or biological weapons and we need a globally coordinated effort to prepare for such an event," Dr. Corlin said in a statement.

Dr. David Heymann, executive director of Communicable Diseases at the World Health Organization (WHO), added at the meeting that greater collaboration between the WHO and national medical associations worldwide was also needed.

Last week, Dr. David Nabarro, executive director at the WHO Office of the Director General, said that Western governments had been warned not to underestimate the risk of biological or chemical assault. Since the attacks on September 11, countries including the UK, France, Italy and the US have said that they were strengthening or re-examining their preparedness for such an eventuality.