The Executive Office of the Arab Ministers of Health has decided to establish an Arab observatory to monitor the new and renewable cross-border disease created by the natural disasters. The office stressed that the Arab states try to increase their production of influenza vaccines. In a statement yesterday, Minister of Health Hatem el-Gabali said the office asked Abdullah al-Rabeeah, the chairman of the current session and Saudi Minister of Health, to send a letter to the World Health Organization asking it to reconsider the classification of the impact and the phases of the pandemic and to formulate a proposal to separate between the geographical classification of the swine flu spread and the severity of the disease to avoid putting unjustified burdens on the shoulders of the developing countries. The WHO has also to coordinate with the geographical regions before taking decisions on changing the levels of alert. The office will also call on the WHO not to give certain companies monopolistic positions.
The executive office, which held a meeting in Riyadh, called on travelers to cooperate with the ministries of health regarding the health measures and procedures at airports through coordination with the civil aviation institutions and the bodies concerned. The office also called on the Arab citizens to be careful if they traveled to the infected countries as is the case with the European Union. El-Gabali said the Technical Secretariat of the Council of Arab Ministers of Health has been assigned to ask the Emergent Arab Health Committee to hold a meeting in the General Secretariat of the Arab League if the need arises.
Al-Rabeeah has been asked to file a report of the results and recommendations of the office's emergency meeting to the international meetings and forums to be held in this regard. The office called for working to provide an appropriate strategic stock of anti-influenza drugs in all countries and encouraging the Arab states to produce these drugs locally with meeting the international standards, quality and efficiency. It also called on the Arab countries to coordinate between each others to make use of reference laboratories.
