Special meeting of health ministers and senior officials from thirteen Asian countries kicked off on Thursday morning in Bangkok in a bid to find more efficient and collaborative ways to prevent and combat the possible pandemic of A/H1N1 flu in the region.

The meeting, lasting two days on May 7 and 8, involved health ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states and the Plus Three countries -- China, Japan and the Republic of Korea, with the aim of mapping out cooperation plans and strategies to handle the potential widespread outbreak of the new strain of flu in the region.

Dr. David Nabarro, Head of UN System Influenza Coordination (UNSIC) addressed the opening remark via visual presentation. In a live teleconference later, officials from US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and UN's World Health Organization (WHO) briefed and discussed with participants the global epidemic updates.

During the two days, participants will review the emergency situation of the new flu in ASEAN Plus Three countries, update and improve the current flu-fighting measures and explore cooperative strategy and actions.

A joint statement will be drafted and signed by the ministers of ASEAN and three dialogue partner countries during the meeting, so as to improve the collaboration and preparedness for tackling the threat of the A/H1N1 flu.

And the measures sought during the meeting will be proposed to the WHO meeting in Switzerland on May 18-20, Thai deputy Public Health Minister said earlier.

Clusters of A/H1N1 flu outbreaks have appeared in multiple locations in Mexico, the US and across the world, taking the death toll of at least 30 since the first infection case was reported on March 17.

China's Hong Kong SAR confirmed an A/H1N-flu-infected case on May 1, the first in Asia. According to the report of the World Health Organization, more than 1,000 confirmed cases have been found in 21 countries globally.

(Xinhua News Agency May 7, 2009)