Canada and the U.S.-based Nuclear Threat Initiative Wednesday launched an updated Global Public Health Intelligence Network in seven languages.
The "early warning" alert system gathers and disseminates preliminary reports of public health significance around the clock, officials said. It also translates the reports into the six official U.N. languages of Arabic, English, French, Russian, Simplified Chinese and Spanish and now Traditional Chinese.
The secure, web-based system was developed by Canadian health officials with support from NTI, which seeks reduce global threats from nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, co-chaired by philanthropist Ted Turner and former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn.
They attended the launch at U.N. World Headquarters in New York along with Canada's Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh and Dr. Stephen Corber, area manager of Disease Prevention and Control for the Pan-American Health Organization of the U.N.'s World Health Organization.
"In a world where diseases know no borders, collaboration on public health initiatives must also extend beyond individual nations," said Dosanjh. "Such incidents as SARS and avian influenza have demonstrated the importance of a strengthened network of international cooperation and communications."
© Copyright 2004 by United Press International
