# 3215
Over the past 3 years the WHO (World Health Organization) has made several changes to their Pandemic Alert definitions, each time making the criteria for raising alert levels more stringent.
Today, there are calls to once again raise the requirements for raising the Pandemic Alert Level to Phase 6.
Critics have accused the organization of moving the goal posts every time it appeared that a viral threat was about to score.
A harsh assessment, perhaps. But not totally without merit.
In fairness, one should note that the WHO moved quickly to elevate from alert level 3 to 4, and then to 5. And it is virtually impossible to create a pandemic alert phase definition that works for all viruses, and in all regions of the world.
Up until a month ago, the assumption was we’d be dealing with a highly virulent bird flu virus, not a (for now) less serious swine flu.
Today, the feeling by many governments is we may have more time to react than we believed in the past.
While the world somehow managed not to freak out over the term `pandemic’ in 1968 – and understood the concept of `mild’ vs. `severe’ - apparently that is less true today.
No doubt, the world’s economic woes are contributing to the elevated level of nervousness this time around.
Raising the pandemic level to 6 is rapidly becoming a political hot potato, as this article from the AP reports.
Nations urge WHO to change swine flu assessment
By FRANK JORDANS
Associated Press WritersGENEVA (AP) -- Britain, Japan and other nations urged the World Health Organization on Monday to change the way it decides to declare a pandemic -- saying the agency must consider how deadly the virus is, not just how fast it is spreading.
The debate arose as WHO began its annual meeting, a five-day event attended by hundreds of health experts from the agency's 193 member nations. Swine flu is expected to dominate this year's conference - and WHO must consider whether it should raise its alert level or tell manufacturers to begin making a specific swine flu vaccine.
WHO's current system focuses on how widespread the disease has become without regard to its severity. Some member nations are anxious to avoid having the agency declare a swine flu pandemic, because the ramifications of that scientific decision could be very costly and politically charged.
"We need to give you and your team more flexibility as to whether we move to phase 6," British Health Secretary Alan Johnson said.
Japan also called for changes in WHO's system, which would move to pandemic if the virus starts to be transmitted among people outside schools, hospitals and other institutions where viruses typically pass quickly.
