The Egyptian government has swiftly and successfully dealt with the discovery of the bird flu in Egypt. The government has enforced a pre-set plan to deal with the virus.

 

As soon as the avian flu was discovered in a number of Asian countries last October, President Hosni Mubarak held an emergency meeting to draw up a plan to deal with the flu. Mubarak also urged the government to deal with the virus in full transparency to guarantee full cooperation of the people.

 

Furthermore, the Egyptian media have played a landmark role in dealing with the avian flu. This helped reassure people on the virus.

 

However, certain measures are still needed to help render the government measures successful.

 

I: The government is called upon to pursue dealing in full transparency with the avian flu. It is also urged to provide all necessary information about the flu to avoid circulating rumors about the virus. Authorities concerned are further urged to allocate official Web sites to refute wrong information or rumors circulated about the flu.

 

II: All state agencies should be placed on full alert to deal with the virus. This also requires raising awareness of the junior civil servants in all agencies and hospitals nationwide.

III: Raising public awareness on dealing with the avian flu.

 

V: The mass media are called upon to raise public awareness and help change some practices of the people on feeding poultry in houses.

 

VI: Interaction between the people and the state agencies is urgently needed to help reasonably deal with the virus and avoid circulation of rumors about the flu.