New guidelines issued by the World Health Assembly would allow global responses to disease outbreaks, including avian flu in Asia and the Marburg virus in Africa, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said Monday, dpa reported The assembly, the legal body of the World Health Organization (WHO), issued the new regulations in Geneva to "prevent, protect against, control and provide public health response to the international spread of disease". The regulations were based on experiences WHO has had around the world in assisting governments in combating diseases in the past 30 years, both on local and international levels. In New York, Annan hailed the adoption of the regulations as a "watershed for global public health". "Few challenges reflect the increasing interdependence among all states - rich and poor, weak and strong - so vividly as the spread of infectious disease," he said, citing the bird flu that has killed hundreds of people in recent years and the recent outbreak of the Marburg virus. The new regulations help define the roles of governments and WHO in identifying and responding to public health emergencies and in sharing information. WHO maintains offices around the world, working with the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network to assist countries facing the challenges of severe disease outbreaks. The newly issued regulations revised and updated previous guidelines. ---SP 2222 Local Time 1922 GMT
