Shigeru Omi
Shigeru Omi
Shigeru Omiis the current Regional Director of the Western Pacific Regional Office for the World Health Organization. He was born in Tokyo in 1949 and currently lives in Manila...
asian chance contain europe excellent
There is an excellent chance for Europe to contain the Asian flu.
affecting among chickens crucial time
Surveillance is crucial because, in my view, the outbreaks affecting transmission among chickens were there for some time without being noticed.
consequences economies global health public
But if we fail, the consequences for societies, economies and global public health could be immeasurable.
diversity evidence expansion hard indicate nature risk spite virus
In spite of this geographical expansion and diversity in the nature of the virus, when it comes to the risk of transmission, we don't have any hard evidence to indicate that the virus has become more infectious.
chickens connected controlled farming humans mingle practices view west
In my view this is connected by the differences in the farming practices. In the West farming practices are well controlled -- ducks, chickens and humans do not mingle together.
afford asia discuss diseases health mental point problems quite reached reasonably
In my view, Asia is doing quite reasonably well for communicable diseases that now we have reached the point we can afford to discuss suicides and mental health problems in general.
areas challenge difficult improvement rural
The improvement of surveillance in rural areas is the most difficult challenge for us.
hope samples
I hope that we'll get the samples soon.
optimistic quite support
I'm quite optimistic on how much support will be given.
fear might report strong
In fact, fear that their flocks might be culled without compensation is a pretty strong disincentive to report an outbreak.