Conference organized by:

Center for Biosecurity of UPMC

World Health Organization Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response Office

Conference sponsored by:

The Nuclear Threat Initiative

Introduction and Welcome
Presenters: Tara O'Toole, M.D., M.P.H. and Guénaël R. Rodier, M.D.

Dr. Tara O'Toole and Dr. Guenael Rodier, representing the two organizations sponsoring the conference, the Center for Biosecurity of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the Office of Communicable Disease Response and Surveillance of the WHO, respectively, welcomed the presenters and participants. Dr. O'Toole noted that 25 countries were represented by participants in the conference, which was inspired by the superb job done by WHO in response to SARS. She commented that the degree of global coordination and cooperation that marked the response to SARS was unprecedented, but upon reflection after SARS, it is clear that much more needs to be done to promote this type of response in the future.

Dr. Rodier went on to explain that WHO is concerned with public health considerations in naturally occurring and intentional biological threats and that it is up to others to be focused primarily on security issues; however, WHO guidelines in 1994 and the actions of the WHO assembly in 2002 have addressed the public health issues presented by natural, accidental, or intentional release of threatening biological agents. The WHO is concerned about "public health security" but has no mandate to be involved in criminal investigation. The WHO has moved beyond the traditional vertical programs focused on single diseases with the development of its effort on emerging infections across the entire microbial world. The pillars of this new strategy are: 1. Deal with known risks, i.e. avian influenza; 2. be able to respond to the unexpected; and 3. improve preparedness at the country level. Dr. Rodier concluded by noting that: 1. All countries should have a response system; 2) despite advances we are collectively not prepared; 3. we need more involvement in public health by the business community and other sectors of society; and 4. the WHO is a small organization but has developed a unique and extensive global public health network for epidemic intelligence and risk assessment.

- Summary by Richard Waldhorn, M.D.

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