http://www.dagbladet.no/2009/11/04/n...uensa/8871874/

A row has broken out between WHO and Norway after Norway allegedly rejected an offer by the UN global health organisation to send their „experts“ to Norway to deal with the swine flu pandemic.

According to a report in the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet, WHO wanted to send „experts“ to Norway after reports that more people had died from the „swine flu“ there than in other countries.

The Assistant Director-General of WHO contacted the Norwegian health director Bjørn Inge Larsen and apparently suggested sending his officials to the country.

However, the Norwegian government declined the offer.

"They offered their assistance. There was talk of sending someone from the WHO here to assist us, " Norwegian Health Minister Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen said.

The news that WHO had offered to send experts to Norway emerged after a letter sent by Strøm-Erichsen to GlaxoSmithKline company concerning the destruction of 170,000 doses of Pandemrix was published.

"Influenza pandemic is now spreading rapidly throughout the country and close to inhabited areas have now been hardest hit. Compared with other European countries, we have a higher death rate, to the extent that the WHO has expressed concern and have contacted our health authorities to provide assistance, "said the letter.

Under the International Health Regulations 2005 and pandemic plans, WHO officials are allowed to assume sweeping powers over a country's health and security infrastructure under the pretext of a pandemic emergency.

The "offer" to send officials by WHO, and the rejection of that offer by Norway could be part of a power struggle for control of Norway.
 

Soon after the news emerged that WHO had contacted the Norwegian government about sending its officials to the country, the Norwegian government backtracked and denied it had rejected an offer by WHO to send experts.

http://www.dagbladet.no/2009/11/04/n...nriks/8872508/

"The case is wrong. It is we who first made contact with pandemic coordinator at WHO, Keiji Fukuda. We have not turned down anything from the WHO…,“ health director Bjørn Inge Larsen told Dagbladet.

“You refer to a phone call where the WHO's pandemic chief Keiji Fukuda contacted me to show his attention and say that they were aware of the high death toll in Norway as a result of swine flu.  I already did that then we will review the Norwegian death to look for common denominators we have not discovered before, and that if the high numbers in Norway continues, it will be appropriate for us to contact the WHO, "says Larsen.

The call from WHO appears to have come on Monday or Tuesday of last week, indicating that WHO has been moving fast behind the scenes to embed its officials into national government structures.

“We may request assistance from WHO experts to survey and review the data. It will be clear about a couple of weeks, "said Larsen.

This is the report in Norwegian:

WHO bekymret for høye norske dødstall

Helsedirektøren vurderer å be om hjelp om to uker. Avviser at Norge har takket nei til eksperthjelp.
(Dagbladet): I dag melder VG at Norge takket nei til en forespørsel om hjelp fra Verdens helseorganisasjon (WHO) rundt kartleggingen av det relativt høye antallet svineinfluensa-dødsfall i her til lands.

Det avvises nå av helsedirektør Bjørn Inge Larsen og helseminister Anne Grete Strøm-Erichsen.

Skrev brev
- Den saken er feil, det er vi som først tok kontakt med pandemiansvarlig i WHO, Keiji Fukuda. Vi har ikke takket nei til noe fra WHO og de har heller ikke avvist å stille med noe, sier helsedirektør Bjørn Inge Larsen til Dagbladet i dag.

I forbindelse med bestilling av nye vaksiner fra legemiddelfirmaet GlaxoSmithKline, skrev helseminister Strøm-Erichsen følgende:

«Influensapandemien sprer seg nå raskt gjennom landet og tettbebodde strøk har til nå blitt hardest rammet. Sammenlignet med andre europeiske land har vi en høyere dødsrate, til den grad at WHO har uttrykt bekymring og har tatt kontakt med våre helsemyndigheter for å tilby assistanse», heter det i brevet ifølge VG.

Deretter siteres helseministeren av VG på at Norge har avvist å motta assistanse fra WHO.

Telefonsamtale
Dette stemmer ikke, ifølge helsedirektøren.

- Her henvises det til en telefonsamtale, der WHOs pandemisjef Keiji Fukuda kontaktet meg for å vise sin oppmerksomhet og si at de var klar over de høye dødstallene i Norge som følge av svineinfluensa. Vi drøftet mulige årsaker og tiltak. Jeg redegjorde deretter for at vi vil gjennomgå de norske dødsfallene for å se etter fellesnevnere vi ikke har oppdaget før, og at dersom de høye tallene i Norge fortsetter, så vil det være aktuelt for oss å kontakte WHO, sier Larsen.

Ifølge helsedirektøren fant samtalen sted forrige uke, mandag eller tirsdag.

- Det kan være vi ber om hjelp fra WHOs eksperter for å kartlegge og gjennomgå dataene. Det vil være klart om et par uker, sier Larsen.