Aussie company helping to cure Asia-Pac's ills
Aussie company helping to cure Asia-Pac's ills
Nov 08, 2004: An Australian company is to deliver a high bandwidth technology infrastructure that will help countries across the Asia Pacific region to build a network of people and resources in order to manage the outbreak of a health epidemic – such as the recent SARS outbreak – more quickly and effectively.
AARNet, Australia’s Academic and Research Network, a not-for-profit company limited by shares, whose shareholders are 37 Australian universities and the CSIRO, is providing the technology for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Emerging Infections network (EINet) initiative.
Chris Hancock, CEO of AARNet, said of the initiative: "Medical scientists believe we are overdue for a global flu epidemic, so the aim of the APEC EINet initiative is for APAC members to be ready as a region to handle any large-scale health crisis that occurs.
"AARNet will provide a 10 gigabit broadband Internet connection to facilitate the online community required to manage and disseminate the information needed to coordinate a rapid response following an outbreak and support the protection of populations the region in the event of an epidemic."
Hancock noted that during a health crisis, countries will often quarantine themselves to contain the spread of an infectious outbreak. And as health professionals and researchers from neighbouring countries cannot access the area of confinement, the level of support they could provide in the past has been restricted. The APEC initiative will use the AARNet network to ensure that quarantined countries can still receive the expert help they require as diagnosis and support is supplied over the Internet in real time.
"The Internet has opened communication channels in all aspects of modern society with healthcare one of the greatest beneficiaries. The APEC initiative is a prime example of how broadband Internet is being used to bring communities together.
"By connecting infectious disease healthcare specialists online throughout the region, knowledge can be easily shared, databases accessed and medical images distributed, providing the assistance needed without putting additional health workers and countries at risk," added Hancock.
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