# 453
This report is notable because of the verbiage reportedly used at this conference.
Note the phrases:
near-inevitable pandemic
likely event that it worsens
the pandemic is likely to happen
officials must be realistic about the seriousness of the crisis
The highlights are my own. The report comes from CCTV, the Chinese news agency. It will be interesting to see how western news agencies cover this meeting.
Does this represent some sea change, or is this simply overly bombastic reporting from CCTV? Frankly, I don't know.
If this is an accurate report, it is a remarkable shift in tone, however.
Bird flu conference opens in Cairo
Source: CCTV.com | 02-14-2007 10:06
The World Health Organization has held a conference on bird flu in Cairo. It's part of an effort to prepare the WHO communications strategy for what it says is a near-inevitable pandemic.
More than 100 experts from around the world are attending the talks to discuss how to communicate with the public over the issue amid growing concerns about the spread of Avian flu.
At the conference, WHO and Egyptian health officials stressed the need to inform the public and the media that the crisis is a reality. They said that a unified strategy must be forged in the likely event that it worsens.
Egypt's Health Minister, Hatem El-Gabaly, said that health officials must be realistic about the seriousness of the crisis.
Hatem El-Gabaly, said, "The second issue that I would like to tell my colleagues here is that also they have to realize that the pandemic is likely to happen, and without understanding this and without believing in that, I don't believe that you will be able to relay the right message to the public."
Egypt's health minister also took the international community to task for not providing enough aid to African nations as they struggle to deal with the outbreak of the deadly virus.
