UNITED NATIONS, May 18 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has named Imelda Henkin of the Netherlands as the new Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Coordinator to prepare for a possible human influenza pandemic, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric announced Thursday.

    Dujarric told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York thatHenkin is designated as the coordinator in order to shore up contingency plans for the operation of UN offices in New York in case of an international outbreak of bird flu among humans,

    Henkin comes to the job from the UN Population Fund where she recently served as the Deputy Executive Director for Management, overseeing a range of operations, including in the areas of emergency response and staff safety.

    In her new capacity, she will be responsible for coordinating the pandemic influenza planning and preparedness activities of allNew York-based United Nations organizations. Enditem