Pandemicflu.gov Preparedness Checklists

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a global flu pandemic after holding an emergency meeting, according to reports. It means the swine flu virus is preading in at least two regions of the world with rising cases being seen in the UK, Australia, Japan and Chile. The move does not necessarily mean the virus is causing more severe illness or more deaths. Official reports say there have been 28,000 cases globally and 141 deaths and figures are rising daily It is the first flu pandemic in 40 years - the last in 1968 with Hong Kong flu killed about one million people.

Pandemicflu.gov recommends: You can prepare for an influenza pandemic now. You should know both the magnitude of what can happen during a pandemic outbreak and what actions you can take to help lessen the impact of an influenza pandemic on you and your family. This checklist will help you gather the information and resources you may need in case of a flu pandemic.

To plan for a pandemic: Store a two week supply of water and food. During a pandemic, if you cannot get to a store, or if stores are out of supplies, it will be important for you to have extra supplies on hand. This can be useful in other types of emergencies, such as power outages and disasters. Periodically check your regular prescription drugs to ensure a continuous supply in your home.

Have any nonprescription drugs and other health supplies on hand, including pain relievers, stomach remedies, cough and cold medicines, fluids with electrolytes, and vitamins.

Talk with family members and loved ones about how they would be cared for if they got sick, or what will be needed to care for them in your home. Volunteer with local groups to prepare and assist with emergency response. Get involved in your community as it works to prepare for an influenza pandemic.

To limit the spread of germs and prevent infection:
- Teach your children to wash hands frequently with soap and water, and model the correct behavior.
- Teach your children to cover coughs and sneezes with tissues, and be sure to model that behavior.
- Teach your children to stay away from others as much as possible if they are sick. Stay home from work and school if sick.

Click HERE for a series of pandemic preparedness checklists.

From West Coast to West Africa, Navy Doctor Spans Care World Over

Navy Visual News Service
Story by Petty Officer 2nd Class David Holmes
Date: 05.28.2009
Posted: 05.28.2009 04:42USS NASHVILLE, At Sea – Capt. Dennis Amundson understands the importance of secure andfunctioning healthcare, whether it be in the United States or a world away in Africa.

And giving care in a foreign land such as Africa is no new feat for Amundson. The 37-year veteran's experience runs deep having served aboard USNS Mercy, completed deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, and served in humanitarian assistance efforts in Indonesia, Mexico and the Philippines. The seasoned Navy doctor is also a 2006 graduate of San Diego State University where he earned a master's degree in Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response.

Additionally, he and his wife help run an orphanage in Uganda catering to children whose mothers have died of AIDS.

When Amundson isn't traveling to distant corners of the Earth, his usual duties take place at San Diego Naval Hospital as a pulmonary/critical care doctor while he serves as staff in the Intensive Care Unit. But for the past three months, he has brought his medical and academic expertise to West and Central Africa while deployed with Africa Partnership Station Nashville as officer-in-charge of the embarked Department of Defense medical and dental team.

Since Amundson and his team's rendezvous with USS Nashville in Sekondi, Ghana, Feb. 20, more than 3,000 patients were seen ranging from simple check-ups to observing or assisting in surgeries alongside local doctors.

"A normal internal medicine specialist sees an average of 2,000- 2,500 patients in a year, and we did that in just two months, often seeing 40-70 patients a day," said Amundson.

Amundson's team, comprised of Army and Navy service members, hit the ground running to overcome varied obstacles such as treating large numbers of patients in local clinics and working through language barriers in the French-speaking African countries.

"None of the team members had done this type of care-giving in Africa except for me," said Amundson. "We were pushed to do a quick start-up and find out what skill sets could be used. We had Petty Officer 2nd Class Sule Abiodum, hospital corpsman, a surgical technician, refracting for eyeglasses and becoming our optometry specialist. We actually gave out more than 800 pairs of glasses during our visits."

Amundson says the knowledge he and his team gained were irreplaceable because of the unique chance to experience first-hand the medical hurdles and triumphs the local care-givers accomplished.

"Altruistically, it's wonderful and medically you learn a lot and you see how other people do business," said Amundson. "You see how [local doctors and nurses] take care of patients with practically nothing. Back in San Diego at the ICU, I have every technology known to man and every sub-specialist I could possibly want, and these guys are taking care of patients with a shoestring and a band-aid [so to speak]...and they save lives. They have their difficulties, but they overcome, and work very hard."

Amundson and his team, along with the crew and staff members of APS Nashville, have made stops in Cameroon, Gabon, Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal. APS's central mission is working with host countries and their militaries to assist the enhancement of maritime safety and security for the continent of Africa. Amundson concurs that this main mission allows the other much needed humanitarian assistance aspects to prosper.

"Seventy-five percent of the world's population lives within 50 miles of a coastline," said Amundson. "Of the mega-urban areas that are growing such as Accra and Dakar, the Navy has the biggest opportunity to engage them in a very robust way. It's all interconnected," said Amundson. "Security is key. If you can establish some form of security and then follow that with basic health care, then we're on the right track to a safer maritime domain and a more secure future for everyone. The whole APS evolution has been a wonderful experience for us, and to be able to be here and do this is truly gratifying."

The APS team, consisting of the USS Nashville crew and an embarked staff of Destroyer Squadron 60 and international maritime professionals, are deployed as part the international APS initiative developed by Naval Forces Europe and Africa. APS Nashville, a Norfolk-based amphibious transport dock ship and largest APS platform to date, is focused on collaborative efforts in West and Central Africa.

To learn more about Africa Partnership Station and its mission, visit the APS website at www.c6f.navy.mil/apshome.html

Aid workers’ expulsion is a risk to life in Darfur

James Reinl, United Nations Correspondent
Last Updated: March 11. 2009 8:30AM UAE / March 11. 2009 4:30AM GMT
People queue for measles vaccinations by Médecins Sans Frontières in Sudan. Kevin PQ Phelan / Medecins Sans Frontieres via AP NEW YORK //

The expulsion of relief workers from Sudan’s western province of Darfur could spawn outbreaks of killer diseases and see water supplies dry up within days, the UN’s aid director says.

Sir John Holmes said Darfur’s humanitarian crisis was poised to deteriorate rapidly following the government’s “unexpected” decision to throw out 13 foreign agencies that ran life-saving aid projects.

The expulsion of aid workers by the Sudanese president, Omar al Bashir, is widely seen as a politically motivated response to an arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC), although this is denied by Khartoum.

“This decision is likely to have a major impact on millions of people in Darfur who need a daily basis of life-saving humanitarian assistance,” Sir John, the UN’s undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs, said on Monday.

“Our major concerns are in the field of water, where water installations have been managed by international non-governmental organizations … If they disappear, how is that job going to be taken up? It may not affect water delivery today, but it certainly will in a few days if the maintenance is not done and fuel is not provided.”

A spokesman for one of the aid groups forced to vacate Darfur said some tanks in Darfur’s refugee camps “will only provide water for a week or 10 days” before supplies dry up and refuges are left thirsty.

“After that, it is a question mark, and we are just trying to figure that out because we have no international staff remaining,” the spokesman said. “The logisticians, the engineers and the co-coordinators of these operations have already left the country.”
Food stockpiles are expected to sustain Darfur’s 4.7 million aid-dependent people over coming weeks. Additionally, the expulsion of foreign specialists could lead to outbreaks of meningitis in refugee camps, Sir John said.

One of the targeted aid groups, Médecins Sans Frontières-Netherlands, had been responding to a meningitis outbreak by vaccinating people in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, when aid workers were ordered to leave. Sudanese officials told a dozen other aid groups and three charities last week that their operating licenses had been revoked amid allegations they had collaborated with ICC prosecutors.

The expelled groups include Oxfam GB, Care International, ¬Médecins Sans Frontières, Mercy Corps and Save the Children.

Mr. al Bashir, who seized control of Africa’s biggest country in a coup in 1989, has accused the UN and aid organizations of conspiring to destabilize his power base as part of a new “colonialism”.

Khartoum announced expulsions only hours after ICC judges issued a warrant for Mr. al Bashir’s arrest based on allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. About 300,000 people have been killed and at least 2.7 million forced from their homes since fighting erupted in 2003, with most of the displaced now holed up in refugee camps in the vast, arid region.

In inhospitable terrain and tackling what has been dubbed “the world’s worst humanitarian disaster”, aid workers distribute sorghum and other staples and provide medical care, clean water and sanitation.

Sudanese officials have confiscated aid workers’ vehicles, mobile telephones and computers, and threatened the remaining staff by their “intimidating behavior”, the humanitarian chief said.

Sudan’s UN ambassador, Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem, said the government would have no problem filling in any gaps in aid distribution created by the expulsion of aid workers.

But Mr. Holmes said neither the Sudanese government nor the UN – nor Darfur’s remaining aid groups – “have the capacity to replace all the activities that have been going on”.

Government allegations that charity workers provided witnesses and helped ICC prosecutors build their case were “far fetched and implausible”, Mr. Holmes said.

A coalition of forces, including the Arab League and the African Union, has urged the Security Council to invoke an article of the ICC rules and delay proceedings against Mr. al Bashir for one year. Critics say the court’s first arrest warrant against a sitting head of state will deepen the Darfur crisis and destabilize a peace process between Khartoum and the country’s Christian-dominated south.

UK: Reconstruction of Gaza

LOCATION Sharm el-Sheikh
SPEAKER Foreign Secretary, David Miliband
DATE 02/03/2009
Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, made a speech at the Gaza reconstruction conference in Sharm el-Sheikh.

We are here because the Gaza conflict was a disaster for the Palestinian people. It cost 1400 lives. It deepened division between the West Bank and Gaza. It fuelled despair and rage across the region. It exposed the weaknesses of our peace process.

Our responsibility is not just to rebuild gaza, but to work to prevent further conflict. So in 2009 we need to do things differently.

There must be:

1. Physical reconstruction in the West Bank and Gaza: visble signs of progress to give people hope.

2. Political reconstruction to give the Palestinian people a single government.

3. International engagement of a wholly different order, led by an energised US Administration, and energetically backed by the whole international community.

4. And a convincing peace plan

Aid is desperately needed for short term humanitarian relief and long term reconstruction. Prime Minister Fayyad has powerfully set out the scale of the challenge and also the right plan to meet it. The UK is proud to support his plan. All of us here are fortunate to have him as a partner.

My colleague Douglas Alexander, the British International Development Secretary, announced yesterday that of the 0m pledged in Paris in 2008, Britain would dedicate m for "early recovery" activities in Gaza to add to the m extra resources given since the Gaza conflict by the UK.

But we need more than pledges of aid. The aid needs to get in; it needs to be well spent; and then it needs to be sustained. Otherwise the saga of reconstruction and destruction will go on and on.

The aid we commit needs the sustained cooperation of Israel for it to enter Gaza. The UK strongly supports the humanitarian framework which has been developed by the UN. I congratulate Secretary General Ban and his team for their work. UNSC Resolution 1860 spelt out the need for comprehensive opening of crossings on the basis of the 2005 Movement and Access agreement. It must be put into practice.

But there will be only limited physical reconstruction without political reconstruction. The Palestinian people need a single government across the Occupied Territories. Gaza cannot be left until last.

In 2009 that government needs to be dedicated to humanitarian assistance, physical reconstruction and election preparation. That is why we support the efforts of Egypt to help create a non factional interim government. Those in the region who stand in the way of that government through maximalist demands and defiant ultimatums do no service to the Palestinian people, or to themselves.

For real and enduring progress on the ground, we need a plan to realise the goal of a viable, contiguous Palestinian state, not more processes that fail to achieve the goal.

Next year the Palestinian people need to be able to turn out and vote in an election where a realistic prospect of statehood is on the table. If not, then those who claim violence is the answer will find recruitment easy.

That is why I strongly welcome the commitments of President Obama, the activism of Senator Mitchell, and today's eloquent speech by Secretary Clinton.

14 months ago Prime Minister Olmert said that if a Palestinian state was not agreed in a year, it would become unrealisable. Today, the goal is further adrift. Violence, including rocket attacks has intensified; settlements have expanded; despair has grown.

The UK believes that the route to a Palestinian state lies through a comprehensive regional approach. The Arab Peace Initiative sets out the vision.

But the truth is that the very idea of a peace process has lost credibility in Israel and the Arab world. So we are at a point of decision.