Mitigating AH1N1: WHO congratulates Sri Lanka

The World Health Organization (WHO) is very happy and congratulates Sri Lanka for speedily distributing the vaccine to controlling Novel Influence (AH1N1) and taking immediate action to mitigate the disease successfully, WHO Representative (WR) for Sri Lanka Dr F R Mehta said.

Dr F R Mehta

Addressing the media after handing over a shipment of Tamiflu (drugs required to treat AH1N1 patients), Dr Mehta said that the 24 deaths reported from Sri Lanka had been caused due to many other health complications in those AH1N1 patients such as chronic respiratory diseases etc.
Normal persons do not die from the disease. Around 25 percent of the AH1N1 patients are children.
Sri Lanka successfully used 1.5 million doses of AH1N1 vaccine worth US dollars 2.3 million. The vaccine expires on January 8.
Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena thanked the WHO for providing drugs for Sri Lanka and also thanked UNICEF for assisting with nutrition programs. The donations shows the recognition Sri Lanka has among International agencies. President Mahinda Rajapaksa will launch the National Nutrition Council on January 14. The Agricultural Ministry, Education Ministry, Trade Ministry and relevant institutions will be the other stakeholders.
The WHO provided 100000 Tamiflu tablets valued 96,000 Euro to Sri Lanka to treat pediatric patients suffering from AH1N1. The shipment of drugs is adequate for a period of three years and will expire in 2014 (after another three years). The number of new infections reported from Sri Lanka have gone down drastically due to effective preventive measures. Only 17 percent of patients who had flu symptoms had AH1N1 last December.
Courtesy - Daily News - By Nadira GUNATILLEKE