In the aftermath of the devastating SARS outbreak in Asia last year, Asian governments loudly proclaimed that they had learned their lesson. Governments and health authorities must be quick to acknowledge when diseases appear and move rapidly to disclose pertinent information to the public and their neighbors to prevent the spread of epidemics. Denials and coverups could not be permitted. Transparency and cooperation had to become the rule.
Those promises are easy to make and hard to keep. Despite last year's mea culpas and the talk of a new age of cooperation and transparency, several Asian governments this week admitted that they have not been forthcoming in dealing with the recent outbreak of avian flu. They are paying the price for delay and denial. People are getting sick and dying, and domestic poultry industries are suffering. The credibility of those governments is again under attack. We can only hope that the delay has not given the disease an advantage in its deadly race with medical science.
Last year, Thailand hosted the special summit for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, where China confessed to its attempts to cover up the SARS outbreak. It is ironic then that this week Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra admitted that his government had not been forthcoming when it discovered avian flu was spreading through Thailand's poultry farms. Thai officials had repeatedly denied that there was an outbreak of the disease even as chickens across the country were dying.