The Pacific Region Influenza Pandemic Preparedness is a project of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community and is funded by Australia and New Zealand, according to Dr. Ken Cokanasiga, SPC’s animal health and production adviser.
Based in Noumea, New Caledonia, SPC is an inter-government organization of 22 Pacific countries and territories, including the CNMI.
The other animal health specialists who arrived on Saturday from Fiji are Ian Peebles, Elva Borja and Sarah I. Jayme.
They are now holding consultative meetings with key officials of the Department of Lands and Natural Resources and the Department of Public Health.
Cokanasiga said the pandemic training will emphasize the process of transporting animal tissues for laboratory tests.
Bird flu, for example, is an animal disease that has infected and killed a number of people.
Although there has been no reported incident of human-to-human contraction of the disease, governments are already preparing for it.
Cokanasiga said the ultimate purpose of the training project is to limit the bird flu within the animal population.
There should not be a chance for this virus to mutate into a strain that can be transmitted from human to human, he said.
As animal health specialists, Cokanasiga said their group wants to train their Micronesian counterparts in transporting or receiving suspected samples of infected animal tissues to or from any overseas laboratories for test confirmation purposes.
The training should result in the implementation of a preparedness plan which includes the establishment of a surveillance system and an early warning system, as well as the improvement of diagnostic capacities, investigation skills and emergency response plan and capabilities.
Cokanasiga said they want to find out how SPC can help DLNR develop a preparedness plan.
