World health officials meet on combating A/H1N1 flu pandemic

"I hope this meeting will help us take major steps forward towards building new collective defenses against a menace that affects us all," Margaret Chan, the World Health Organization (WHO) director-general, told the opening session in Cancun, a beach resort town in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo.

    She acknowledged the measures taken by Mexico to deal with the disease, saying that the situation in the country is currently stable.

    Mexican President Felipe Calderon said at the summit that international cooperation is needed to jointly tackle the disease that has posed a new challenge to the world.

   Calderon thanked foreign officials for their attendance, which he described as "a gesture of friendship and solidarity" to a nation, which has seen 116 deaths of the disease since it was first detected in April.

    Chinese Health Minister Chen Zhu said at the meeting that a series of comprehensive measures have been taken by China to tackle the disease, including strict border inspection and quarantine, enhanced surveillance and vigorous medical treatment.

    So far, 1,518 cases of the A/H1N1 flu have been confirmed in China.

    The measures have helped slow down the spread and prevalence of the disease, but it is still hard to predict such factors as the speed and direction of the mutation of the virus, Chen said, Kazinform cites Xinhua. See www.chinaview.cn for full version.