by Xie Meihua and Liu Ying

    NAIROBI, May 23 (Xinhua) -- The A/H1N1 new flu has ravaged more than 40 countries and regions across the world since it first broke out in Mexico late in April this year. Some developing countries, including the African countries, have been spared so far by the killer virus but they are facing severe challenges in preventing the epidemic which calls for more attention and support from the international community.

    Developing countries have taken actions to keep the epidemic out of their doors. In Africa, some countries have established emergency prevention and control centers, screened the health condition of visitors and purchased necessities to fend off the strain.

    Reviewing and assessing the global chain of preventing the killer virus, developing countries are found generally weak in many aspects. A Nigerian health official told a recent high-level session at the United Nations offices in Geneva "We are far from being ready. The continent is in dire need of support."

    The developing countries are facing many-sided difficulties in coping with the new flu. Many countries, lack of diagnostic laboratory capacity, are unable to timely detect and track the epidemic.

    A specialist from the World Health Organization (WHO) pointed out recently that most developing countries are simply not in a position to detect or track seasonal flu, let alone a potentially pandemic strain of the A/H1N1.

    Nicholas Kauta, co-chairperson of Uganda's National A/H1N1 Flu task force, told Xinhua in a recent interview that Africa still has little knowledge on the A/H1N1 Flu virus which could make it difficult to fight the disease in case it breaks out on the continent.

    Kauta said: "Our actions are being limited by the amount of information we get. We do not have that virus here that we could do our own research. We are informed by those people doing research on it."

    A recent assessment revealed that the patients who are seriously sick with the A/H1N1 and those who died of the killer virus also suffer from other chromic diseases. A total of 85 percent of these people are from the low and middle income countries. Once the killer virus breaks out in these countries, it will have a bigger impact than it has had anywhere else.

    For these developing countries, the biggest challenge is that as moving to prevent the epidemic, they have already been over burdened by the fight against AIDS, malaria and encephalitis.

    In the just concluded session of the WHO, participants agreed that prevention measures should be taken at the global level and policies must be adopted to help the developing countries so as to forge a global chain of prevention.

    The policies include providing the developing countries with the achievements in scientific research, experience and means of preventing the epidemic as well as personnel and drug support.

    Although the participants failed to reach an consensus in the research and distribution of the A/H1N1 vaccine, they agreed that policies and materials will lean to the developing countries.

    Health officials from many developing countries have said the current situation has once again exposed the weakness in preventive foundation and mechanism in the developing countries, especially in those poor countries.

    The fight against the A/H1N1 flu has demonstrated that in the process of the globalization, risks and crises know no borders. The self-protective and self-preventive approaches cannot meet the challenges. The worldwide cooperation is the only way to win the fight.

Special Report:  World Tackles A/H1N1 Flu