Avian Influenza and the Pandemic Threat

AHI still poses a very serious threat to mankind therefore, this event provides a great opportunity to obtain the latest information, the latest techniques, and lessons learnt on contingency planning for an AHI pandemic in the event of the avian flu taking a more aggressive and virulent form that will have serious consequences to the tourism industry. In addition, this event will be a forum where many participants from the public sector, the private sector and the UN Systems organization dealing with AHI will be present, which will provide a rare opportunity for networking that should not be missed.

The aims of this exercise are to:

- Explore the special relations a pandemic has when it comes to travellers and tourists in an international environment (foreign territory, crossing borders, etc.);
- Increase awareness and to identify weaknesses of national contingency plans;
- Facilitate intensive surveillance to reduce surprises;
- Encourage fast and sincere reporting, allowing a rapid detection and implementation of control measures to interrupt transmission successfully;
- Train international interactions and evacuations as contingency planning and evacuation exercises are predominantly national business and usually not internationally coordinated.