Beijing - World Health Organization Director General Margaret Chan warned Friday that the risk of an avian influenza pandemic had not been averted despite the apparent success of several Asian nations in controlling outbreaks of the disease. "Don't let your guards off," Chan told reporters after talks in Beijing with Chinese health, agriculture and central government officials.
"The risk of an avian influenza pandemic is still with us," she said.
Hong Kong-born Chan praised China's improved disease surveillance, laboratory capacity and shortened time for reporting bird-flu outbreaks.
She said the modern facilities at China's national control centre for infectious diseases made it "one of the best" she had seen since taking up her WHO post 10 months ago.
Chan also said South-East Asian nations such as Vietnam and Thailand had performed well in preventing and controlling bird flu.
After meeting Beijing health officials and organizers of next year's Olympic Games in the city, she said emergency health plans for the games were "moving along in a very solid way".
"They do recognize that with any mass gathering, the government has to make preparations," she said, adding that WHO had offered assistance to Beijing.
The Chinese government showed a "growing commitment to health services" for its 1.3 billion people but still faced "serious health challenges," she added.
New challenges for China included the rising incidence of chronic diseases more common in developed nations, such as obesity and cancer, and the "growing burden" of tobacco.
With such a huge population, many of China's challenges "can become global health challenges," Chan warned.
WHO warned in September that H5N1, the strain of bird flu that has been deadly in humans, had become "deeply rooted in domestic birds" in Asia despite efforts to control outbreaks.
Experts have long warned that the virus might be more widespread in China, where dozens of outbreaks of H5N1 have been reported in poultry.
WHO said it had recorded 303 human infections with bird flu in 12 nations, including 204 deaths, by October 31.
China has reported 25 human H5N1 infections since 2003. Sixteen of those people have died.
