Wealthy countries should build up a stockpile of antiviral medicine to be rushed to regions struck by the potential bird flu pandemic, the World Heath Organisation (WHO) has announced.
WHO director general Lee Jong-wook said that while many countries could afford to build a stockpile of the drugs, the poorest nations could not afford to do so.
Welcoming a donation to its rapid-response stockpile of three million treatment courses of the antiviral oseltamivir from the Roche company, Mr Jong-wook said: "If a flu pandemic were to emerge in a poor country for example, these drugs could be flown quickly to the centre of a potential pandemic. We urge other countries to help us build up the international stockpile."
He said the organisation had prioritised preparing for a possible outbreak and added: "It must also be a priority for every country in the world. Coordinated and effective action can reduce the death, suffering and social disruption a pandemic would otherwise cause."
The WHO has been warning that the bird flu virus could become a global influenza pandemic ever since it was first diagnosed.