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International Response: WHO Announces 24-Hour Bio-Response Fund By Bryan Bender The WHO and NTI formally announced establishment of the WHO-NTI Emergency Outbreak Fund, setting aside an initial $500,000 to give the U.N. agency greater flexibility to respond immediately to a biological incident with medical teams, vaccines and drug supplies. “Crucial hours lost in the early days of a disease outbreak can mean the difference between a handful of cases and a major epidemic,” WHO Director General Gro Harlem Brundtland told a Washington news conference. When “an outbreak occurs, it is critical to get people on the ground as soon as possible. This revolving fund will enable WHO to provide medical experts and equipment immediately,” she said. Officials believe rapid detection, identification and response are key to saving lives and controlling infectious diseases. A rapid response could make the difference in identifying whether an outbreak is intentional or naturally occurring. Officials acknowledge, however, that because of a lack of adequate resources, WHO until now had to depend on donor countries in a time of crisis, risking valuable time. “WHO has been underfunded like all international organizations,” Margaret Hamburg, NTI vice president for biological programs, said, adding, “there are many competing priorities and limited resources.” She told Global Security Newswire the new fund will give the organization “the cushion they need to always respond in a prompt and effective way, recognizing that the half a million dollars will have to be replenished by member nations.” She added, “The full response to an outbreak may require additional funds for medical materials, care for the sick and those at risk. But the revolving fund enables them to immediately respond to a potential outbreak whatever and wherever it is.” Brundtland said the new fund “removes immediate barriers” that could delay an urgent response and will allow the WHO to mobilize immediately in the event of an outbreak, whether large or small. She said the fund would ensure a more rapid response to epidemic meningitis, yellow fever outbreaks and viral hemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola. For NTI, the emergency fund is one of more than a dozen projects designed to reduce the threat of bioterrorism. “The nexus between health and security has become increasingly clear,” NTI Co-Chairman Sam Nunn said yesterday. “Diseases don’t recognize national boundaries,” he said. According to Hamburg, former New York health commissioner and a former U.S. assistant secretary of health and human services for planning and evaluation, the emergency fund will strengthen the fight against bioterrorism. “Improving global capacity to detect and rapidly respond to outbreaks of infectious disease is key to the goal of reducing the damage — human, economic and otherwise — from a biological threat,” she said. A related NTI project is funding the WHO to expand language capabilities for the Global Public Health Information Network, which would be used to detect a disease outbreak. NTI’s next target in reducing the biological threat is the pharmaceutical industry, which Nunn said could play a significant role in reducing the threat of deadly pathogens. “We’re trying to get the pharmaceutical community in this country and around the globe, as well as the biotechnology community, to recognize their responsibility over protecting dangerous pathogens,” Nunn said. “We’re saying to our pharmaceutical friends and our biotechnology friends … ‘it’s time to have your own voluntary efforts,’” he said. The fight against bioterrorism, he added, is also the fight for public health. “The good news in this grim bioterrorism business is that the steps that we must take to protect against bioterrorism are the same basic steps we should already be taking to protect against infectious disease.” [EDITOR’S NOTE: The Nuclear Threat Initiative is the sole sponsor of Global Security Newswire, which is published independently by the National Journal Group.]
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