# 2161
Reactions to yesterday's story on a UK House of Lords Committee report that lambastes the WHO - while outlining the inevitability of another pandemic - have begun to show up in the media.
While several Australian scientists have labeled the report `simplistic', `overly negative', and `unhelpful' - none of them seem to be disputing the inevitability of the next pandemic.
The complaints appear to be mostly centered around the criticisms of the WHO.
While admitting that more needs to be done, particularly in third world nations, critics of this report are pointing out the progress that has been made over the past several years.
This report from ninemsn news
Grim flu report unhelpful: experts
18:21 AEST Mon Jul 21 2008
By Tamara McLean
Australian flu experts have dismissed as "unhelpful" a hard-hitting UK report claiming the world is ill-prepared for an inevitable influenza pandemic.
The British government report warns that most nations have poor early warning systems for disease spread which lack vision and clarity and are badly coordinated.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) was also criticised in the report by the House of Lords as having a "dysfunctional organisational structure" not designed to best fight emerging diseases.
But Australian specialists say the report is both overly simplistic and overly negative in a climate in which much has been done in recent years.
"It's more difficult to predict the path of these diseases than the House of Lords suggest," said Professor Greg Tannock, an RMIT University academic who sits on the federal government's national influenza pandemic action committee.
"We know a pandemic is coming, yes it's inevitable, but governments are doing a lot to prepare, as much as you realistically can."
