MEDIA ADVISORY: The Ethics of Pandemic Influenza -- What Happens When Healthcare Resources Are Scarce and Over-stretched?

MEDIA ADVISORY: The Ethics of Pandemic Influenza -- What Happens When Healthcare Resources Are Scarce and Over-stretched?

October 27, 2006

    What are the obligations of healthcare workers during a
pandemic? Who should get priority access to vaccines and
antivirals? Who should get priority access to healthcare
during a pandemic? When should a person be quarantined
against his/her will, for the public's good?

    On 24-25 October, the World Health Organization (WHO)
convened some of the world's most renowned medical
ethicists to begin to discuss these issues in Geneva. They
discussed many of the most poignant issues which would
arise if and when an influenza pandemic was causing
resources and services to be overstretched and unable to
accommodate all those who sought and/or needed care.

    The experts' discussion came under four major
headings:

    -- Equitable access to therapeutic and prophylactic
measures
    -- Isolation, quarantine, border control and
social-distancing measures
    -- The role and obligations of health-care workers
during an outbreak of    
       pandemic influenza
    -- Issues that arise between governments when
developing a multilateral   
       response to a potential outbreak of pandemic
influenza. 

    The experts addressed a wide variety of considerations
affecting what measures national, regional, local and
hospital authorities -- and individuals -- would take in
regard to the four topics above. It is hoped that both the
issues which this consultation has thrown up and the
guidance which the experts can provide, will help national
and local governments take some tough decisions before a
pandemic strikes.  As a first step in a wider discussion
process, the experts are due to finalize their
recommendations in December 2006.

    WHAT:             Virtual Press Briefing: The ethics of
pandemic 
                      Influenza response

    WHERE AND WHEN:   12:00-13:00 GMT Time, Friday 27
October 2006 - World 
                      Health Organization, Geneva

    SPEAKERS:         Dr David Heymann, World Health
Organization, Acting 
                      Special Representative on Avian
Influenza Dr Alex 
                      Capron, Professor of Law and
Medicine, University of 
                      Southern California; Dr Andreas Reis,
Technical Officer, 
                      World Health Organization, Ethics and
Health, 

    HOW:              Journalists will be able to listen
via teleconferencing 
                      and can queue to ask questions. To
participate in the 
                      conference call, journalists should
phone (up to 300 
                      participants) the following numbers:

    --  ([phone] from outside Switzerland  
    --  052 267 0731 from within Switzerland
    Give Swisscom your last name and press agency (i.e. Mr
Miller, Reuters) to be connected to the conference.

    -- To ask a question, dial *14 to be placed on a
queuing system
    -- To abandon the queue, dial *15.

    All WHO Press Releases, Fact Sheets and Features, as
well as other information on this subject, can be obtained
on Internet on the WHO home page: http://www.who.int .

    For more information, please contact:

     Gregory Hartl
     Tel:    [phone]
     Mobile: [phone]
     Email:  [e-mail]

     Dick Thompson
     Tel:    [phone]
     Mobile: [phone]
     Email:  [e-mail]   

SOURCE  World Health Organization