Thursday, May 7, 2009

And if you're bored with QandA try this

Is Australia ready for a pandemic?

As the H1N1 virus spreads and predictions are made about whether it's going to be a major pandemic or not, ABC Local hosts a discussion about whether or not Australia is ready to face such a major health emergency.

AM's Tony Eastley and bio-ethicist Dr Leslie Cannold discuss Australia's preparation for a major health emergency, be it a naturally-occuring pandemic, a bio-terror attack or other natural disaster.

The program will be on air tonight, 7 May 2009, from 7pm, and you can get more information and make your comment online.

Posted on May 7, 2009 by Local Editor in Health Permalink

2 comments:

RebeccaH said...

Not to make light of this swine flu thing, but so far, it's behaving like an ordinary seasonal flu over here. The problem is the media, shrilly making a crisis out of every damn thing that comes along, so that when an actual crisis does come about, no one will be ready for it. You can only cry wolf so many times before people stop listening.

kae said...

Hi RebeccaH
I know. It's just been such a huge beat-up. This strain of influenza is not even in Australia and they're freaking out (telling people to stock up on food and water to last at least two weeks... this from the health minister of Queensland - which was repudiated by the federal health minister).

The "authorities" (for want of a better word), should have stressed that they were prepared for a time, should it arise, that this flu would arrive in Australia.

The other thing that was so bad was the huge beat up of this flu, millions of people die each year from ordinary influenza infections which travel the globe. I suppose that swine flu is a zoonose and that makes it bad.

I remember that the piggery at the local university was thrown out of whack if there were idiot protesters which invaded it. God knows what diseases they carried! The piggeries in Australia are renowned for their quaratine restrictions. The protesters have no idea what they do when they set up in a place like that and the danger that they present!