The role of ICTs in risk communication in Asia Pacific
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Notes1 The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of Mr Chin Saik Yoon to this chapter. 2 There are many types of crises: natural disasters ('acts of God'), malevolence (product tampering, kidnapping, rumors), technical breakdowns (software failures, industrial accidents, product recalls), human breakdowns (industrial accidents due to human error), activist challenges (boycotts, strikes, lawsuits), accidents (oil spills, radioactive contamination), pandemics (such as AIDS) and terrorism, which is relatively more recent in origin. 3 The WHO has developed different alert phases for pandemics. Each phase provides the status of the pandemic from a circulating strain, possible infection to humans and the full blown epidemic event. 4 The Global Public Health Intelligence Network (GPHIN) developed by Health Canada in collaboration with the WHO is a secure Internet-based multilingual early-warning tool that continuously searches global media sources such as news wires and websites to identify information about disease outbreaks and other events of potential international public health concern. 5 The broadened purpose and scope of the IHR (2005) are to 'prevent, protect against, control and provide a public health response to the international spread of disease and which avoid unnecessary interference with international traffic and trade.' |