Any renewed war in Sri Lanka could threaten health programmes already hit by Asia’s tsunami and hamper efforts to fight bird flu, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday.
"It would depend on the nature of the conflict, but it could stop people from seeking treatment when they need it, "WHO country representative Agostino Borra told Reuters in an interview. "It could undo the gains we have made."
Borra said he was also concerned immunisation rates might be falling off, possibly sparking new cases of polio, which can kill and disable children.
"I would like to see a new polio vaccine campaign," Borra said. "It would be very difficult if you had conflict and some of these places went back into the dark."
Malaria - reduced to almost nothing across the rest of the island -- remains in the conflict affected areas, which include a seventh of Sri Lanka under Tamil Tiger control, Borra said. Other diseases were also more common.
Across the rest of the country, deaths from easily curable diseases are much lower than in many developing nations. The main cause of death in hospitals is heart disease - typical of developed countries, not war-weary developing nations.
The WHO has little hard medical data on Tiger areas but says monitoring information on human and animal diseases - key to identifying and controlling bird flu, amongst other illnesses - is passed on to the capital, Colombo.
"There is a shortage of human resources," he said. "Everyone wants to be in the nice cities of Galle, Kandy and Colombo. It’s particularly acute in the north and east."
Sri Lanka has yet to see an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, which has killed 71 people across Asia and which health experts fear could spark a global pandemic if it develops the ability to jump easily from person to person.
Any return to war - increasingly feared by diplomats and aid workers - could jeopardise surveillance and co-operation across the front lines, making it more difficult to track the disease and respond to an outbreak.
"It definitely wouldn’t help," said Borra. "The disease has such a high mortality rate that around half of the people who get it die."
"It would depend on the nature of the conflict, but it could stop people from seeking treatment when they need it, "WHO country representative Agostino Borra told Reuters in an interview. "It could undo the gains we have made."
Borra said he was also concerned immunisation rates might be falling off, possibly sparking new cases of polio, which can kill and disable children.
"I would like to see a new polio vaccine campaign," Borra said. "It would be very difficult if you had conflict and some of these places went back into the dark."
Malaria - reduced to almost nothing across the rest of the island -- remains in the conflict affected areas, which include a seventh of Sri Lanka under Tamil Tiger control, Borra said. Other diseases were also more common.
Across the rest of the country, deaths from easily curable diseases are much lower than in many developing nations. The main cause of death in hospitals is heart disease - typical of developed countries, not war-weary developing nations.
The WHO has little hard medical data on Tiger areas but says monitoring information on human and animal diseases - key to identifying and controlling bird flu, amongst other illnesses - is passed on to the capital, Colombo.
"There is a shortage of human resources," he said. "Everyone wants to be in the nice cities of Galle, Kandy and Colombo. It’s particularly acute in the north and east."
Sri Lanka has yet to see an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, which has killed 71 people across Asia and which health experts fear could spark a global pandemic if it develops the ability to jump easily from person to person.
Any return to war - increasingly feared by diplomats and aid workers - could jeopardise surveillance and co-operation across the front lines, making it more difficult to track the disease and respond to an outbreak.
"It definitely wouldn’t help," said Borra. "The disease has such a high mortality rate that around half of the people who get it die."
