International cooperation must be carried out for a global response to the current A/H1N1 influenza outbreak, Chinese Health Minister Chen Zhu said here on Monday.

"Economic globalization has led to a global transmission of diseases. To address this global challenge, a better way is to take global actions," Chen said in a speech to the 62nd World Health Assembly (WHA).

According to the minister, countries need to have better cooperation, demonstrate solidarity, support each other in information, technology and knowledge sharing, and make joint efforts to prevent the disease from developing into a new crisis threatening the economic and social development of mankind.

"The Chinese government would like to cooperate with other countries and relevant international organizations in sharing information, technology and best practices in outbreak response, to better cope with this challenge to global public health," he said.

The minister also proposed an international seminar on the prevention and control of A/H1N1 influenza to be held in Beijing in July.

The purpose of the seminar is for better experience sharing and capacity enhancing in response to a possible influenza pandemic, he said.

The WHA is the supreme decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO). It is usually held in Geneva in May and participated by health ministers of WHO's 193 member states.

This year's assembly will run through May 22, five days shorter than originally planned because health ministers are busy handling the disease situation in their own countries and need to go back earlier.

In his speech, Chen also called for more international support for developing countries' health sector.

"The implementation of the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has made important progress, but great challenges sill lie ahead," he told delegates at the meeting.

"The MDGs are strong commitments made by governments around the world, and the shared responsibility for the whole international community," he added.

He also highlighted the importance of better implementing the International Health Regulation (IHR), which requires countries to better share information and work closely together to monitor cases and conduct contact tracing.

"All these are of great importance in curbing the outbreaks, and maintaining social stability and public confidence," he said.

Meanwhile, Chen urged countries to remain highly prepared for a possible pandemic despite signs that the H1N1 flu virus "is less virulent than expected."

"We cannot lower our vigilance, and must prevent the influenza from recurrence in this coming fall and winter," he said.

According to the WHO's latest tally, the new flu virus has caused 8,829 infections and 74 deaths in 40 countries and regions.

The largest numbers of cases continued to be reported from three North American countries, namely Mexico, where the new virus was first identified, the United States and Canada. Most of the deaths occurred in Mexico.

So far there is still no strong evidence showing community- level transmission of the virus in regions outside of North America, according to the WHO. But the UN agency is closely monitoring the spread of the virus among people, particularly in Spain, Britain and recently Japan, where cases have kept increasing.

Once community-level transmission of the virus is confirmed outside of North America, the WHO is expected to raise its pandemic alert level from the current phase 5 to phase 6, which indicates a pandemic is under way.

(Xinhua News Agency May 19, 2009)