By ELIZABETH MIAE
THE National Agriculture Quarantine Inspection Authority (NAQIA) is in the process of drafting a national response plan to readily control and contain life-threatening diseases or viruses such as bird flu that could possibly occur in the country.
Provincial representatives have been asked to co-ordinate with their disaster committees to also draft provincial response plans.
The response plans will assist authorities to deal with such health and quarantine issues but most importantly for provincial authorities, it will be a guide as to which other agencies they would work with to clamp down on the virus/diseases.
This was raised at the Quarantine Avian Influenza forum that ended in Port Moresby yesterday.
In addition to that, Dr James Wangi from the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), told the forum that it was compulsory for countries to have a national incident room set up.
Unfortunately, PNG does not have one and SPC has been given the task to establish one in the country and representatives from the Australian department of health have offered to assist.
SPC has also in place the Pacific regional influenza pandemic preparedness project (PRIPP) which will run until June 30, 2010.
The programme is applicable to countries in the region.
Its objective is to achieve effective and efficient response to avian influenza by networking with agencies concerned.

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