The 121st Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, meeting in Geneva in October 2009, wishes to draw attention to the alarming spread of the H1N1 influenza virus, which has now been classified by the World Health Organization as a pandemic.

Our parliaments agree that they should fully exercise their legislative and supervisory duties to help combat the spread of the H1N1 virus. They must use their oversight powers to ensure that their governments’ response to the pandemic is built on sound public health grounds.

In some countries, the health systems are stretched to their limit and even overwhelmed by the crisis. We call upon our parliaments to avail themselves fully of their budgetary powers to make sure that national health systems are sufficiently well-resourced to ensure efficient detection, confirmation and treatment of cases. This includes establishing systems for triage where priority is given to high-risk populations.

We will continue to require our governments to report to us regularly on what they have done to protect citizens and provide early treatment for infected persons. More broadly, our parliaments must also scrutinize the efforts of their governments in containing the economic and social impacts of the disease.

The regional parliamentary organizations are urged to take steps to ensure that regional parliamentary efforts to limit the economic and social risks of the H1N1 virus are coordinated across the world.

The international financial institutions and the G20 are encouraged to provide urgent financial assistance to developing countries to enable their health systems to cope with the effects of the pandemic and limit its spread.

We also urge the media to assist in raising public awareness of how to avoid contracting the virus and serving as a channel for medical instructions and advice.

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Note: you can download a complete electronic version of the brochure "Results of the 121st Assembly and related meetings of the Inter-Parliamentary Union" in PDF format (file size approximately 583 Kb). This version requires Adobe Acrobat Reader, which you can download free of charge.

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