UN Urged to Make Pandemic Flu Plan

UN still without plan:

The United States on Tuesday proposed that the U.N. health agency immediately convene a small expert group to plan a rapid response in the event of a flu pandemic.

The panel should also draft a plan to close gaps in influenza surveillance and complete both in time for consideration by the World Health Organization's executive board in January, said Stewart Simonson, assistant secretary of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department.

"We must go beyond generalized planning and well-intentioned expressions of cooperation," Simonson told a group of scientists and other experts meeting at WHO's Geneva headquarters. "Now is the time to speak and act with specificity."

Experts agree an eventual global flu pandemic capable of killing millions of people is a certainty. Scientists say it is also certain that the virus will come from bird flu.