WHO chief urges southern Asia to develop vaccines

Sep 7, 2010, 10:50 GMT

Bangkok - Southern Asia should invest more in developing its own vaccines and other medicines to combat pandemics and rising health costs, the World Health Organization (WHO) urged Tuesday.

WHO Director General Margaret Chan praised the nations of South and South-East Asia for 'solidarity in responding to the influenza pandemic' that spread from the Americas to Asia in 2008 and 2009.

Chan last month lowered the influenza pandemic alert, but at a meeting of regional health ministers in Bangkok Tuesday, she cautioned that the threat from swine flu was not over.

'The pandemic has not gone away,' she said. 'Based on experience with past pandemics, we expect the H1N1 virus to take on the behaviour of a seasonal influenza and continue to circulate for some years to come.'

The pandemic created a shortages in influenza vaccines, which prompted some countries, such as Thailand, to develop their own.

WHO encouraged other governments to invest in similar vaccine and medicine production.

'When we look at the situation in the past hundred years, the countries in this part of the world relied almost totally on medicines from the West,' WHO Regional Director Samlee Plianbangchang said.

He noted that in South and South-East Asia, only four countries had the capacity to produce their own medicines and vaccines: India, Indonesia, Thailand and Bangladesh.

'To produce medicines and vaccines requires investments, which the countries in this part of the world can't afford,' Samlee said. 'But we have to strengthen our research and development.'

This year's annual regional meeting is focusing on the health challenges of urbanization.

'For the first time in history, more people are now living in urban settings than in rural areas,' Chan said. 'By the year 2030, an estimated six out of every 10 people will be living in towns or cities with the most explosive growth expected in Asia and Africa.

'Cities also tend to promote unhealthy lifestyles,' she said.