WHO has 'limited information' on spread of bird flu in US

The Manila Times

WHO has 'limited information' on spread of bird flu in US  The World Health Organization on Feb. 12, 2025 warns that it has only 'limited information' about the spread of bird flu in the United States, which has all but cut communications with the global health body. 'We are communicating with them, but we haven't heard anything back,' says Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention director.  WHO / AFP VIDEO  Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel - https://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe   Visit our website at https://www.manilatimes.net   Follow us:  Facebook - https://tmt.ph/facebook  Instagram - https://tmt.ph/instagram  Twitter - https://tmt.ph/twitter  DailyMotion - https://tmt.ph/dailymotion   Subscribe to our Digital Edition - https://tmt.ph/digital   Check out our Podcasts:  Spotify - https://tmt.ph/spotify  Apple Podcasts - https://tmt.ph/applepodcasts  Amazon Music - https://tmt.ph/amazonmusic  Deezer: https://tmt.ph/deezer  Tune In: https://tmt.ph/tunein  #TheManilaTimes #worldnews  #worldhealthorganization  #birdflu

Transcript

00:00A significant part of WHO's response to health emergencies in Uganda, DRC, Gaza, Sudan, and

00:09elsewhere is supported by funding from the United States.

00:14As we have said, we regret the announcement that the United States intends to withdraw

00:20from WHO, and we would welcome the opportunity to engage in constructive dialogue.

00:26The sudden suspension of U.S. funding and the sudden disengagement of U.S. institutions

00:32is also affecting the response to global efforts to eradicate polio and the response to mpox

00:39epidemics in Africa.

00:42In Myanmar, almost 60,000 people, most of them women and children, have been left with

00:47no access to life-saving services.

00:50And we have limited information about the spread of avian influenza among dairy cattle

00:57in the U.S. or human cases.

01:00CDC right now is not reporting influenza data through the WHO global platforms, FluNet,

01:06FluID, that they've been providing information for many, many years.

01:11And we have not had direct communication with CDC related to influenza.

01:15We are communicating with them, but we haven't heard anything back.

01:18We are confident that the U.S. has detection capabilities to identify zoonotic influenza

01:25in animals, in humans, who are working with exposed animals or infected animals.

01:33We encourage the dialogue to continue with us and that technical exchange.

01:38I mean, the communication from CDC stopped around the 24th of January.

01:43But up until that, I want to be really clear.

01:46There are incredible scientists at U.S. CDC and across U.S. institutions, as well as the

01:51institutions in all of the member states that we work with.

01:54We hope that this exchange resumes soon.

01:58We are continuing to reach out to our colleagues in the U.S. government agencies.

02:04We haven't heard back from them.

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