VZCZCXRO8507
PP RUEHLH RUEHPW
DE RUEHIL #2971/01 2531122
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 091122Z SEP 08
FM AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8705
INFO RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 3743
RUEHKP/AMCONSUL KARACHI 0283
RUEHLH/AMCONSUL LAHORE 6025
RUEHPW/AMCONSUL PESHAWAR 4830

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ISLAMABAD 002971 
 
DEPT OF HHS WASHINGTON DC 
 
SIPDIS 
AIDAC 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: TBIO EAID PGOV PK SOCI KOCI
SUBJECT: HHS SECRETARY LEAVITT'S MEETINGS AT PAKISTAN NATIONAL 
INSTITUTE OF HEALTH (PNIH) 
 
¶1. (U)  Summary:  U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) 
Michael Leavitt visited Pakistan's National Institute of Health 
Institute (PNIH) on August 19, during his two-day trip to Pakistan. 
At PNIH, Secretary Leavitt met with senior officials from the 
Pakistani Ministry of Health (MOH) to discuss on-going and potential 
HHS programs in Pakistan.  He also spoke informally with fellows of 
Pakistan's Field Epidemiology Laboratory Training Program (FELTP), 
and toured facility reference laboratories for avian influenza at 
the PNIH.  End summary. 
 
Field Epidemiology Laboratory Training Program (FELTP): 
 
¶2. (U) Dr. Iftikhar Ahmed, PNIH Executive Director, and Dr. Rana 
Jawad Asghar, FELTP Resident Advisor from the HHS Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), introduced Secretary Leavitt 
to the group of 19 FELTP fellows who comprise Pakistan's first two 
FELTP classes.  The fellows, all physicians, are working in and 
represent all provinces of Pakistan, Azad Kashmir and the Federally 
Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).  The fellows described their work 
in disease surveillance and response.  Highlights included 
investigating Pakistan's first human outbreak of highly pathogenic 
avian influenza in Northwest Frontier Province in November 2007, and 
performing polio surveillance sequencing that has tracked movements 
of the virus in Balochistan and Sindh.  Fellows spoke informally 
with Secretary Leavitt about their individual backgrounds, 
motivations for joining FELTP and aspirations for the future. 
Secretary Leavitt answered questions on topics that included health 
care challenges, financing and reform in the U.S.  (Note: 
Pakistan's FELTP program began in July 2007, under the auspices of 
HHS/CDC and with funding from USAID.  End note.) 
 
Roundtable with PNIH National Program Managers 
 
¶3. (U) Secretary Leavitt discussed potential interaction and support 
that HHS could provide Pakistan with key MOH officials, including 
Dr. Ahmed and Dr. Asghar, as well as Dr. Rashid Jooma, MOH Director 
General.  Principal participants from the HHS delegation included 
Secretary Leavitt and William Steiger, Director, Office of Global 
Health Affairs (OGHA); Mark Abdoo, Acting Director for Asia and the 
Pacific at HHS/OGHA; and Dr. Altaf Lal, HHS Regional Health Attache 
for South Asia, based at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi. 
 
Requests for Assistance with Legislation and Regulation 
 
¶4.  (U) In follow-up to the Secretary's morning discussion with 
Minister of Health Sherry Rehman (septel), MOH director General Dr. 
Rashid Jooma asked specifically if HHS could provide assistance in 
writing legislation, statutes and regulations to create an 
autonomous drug-regulatory authority in Pakistan.  Dr. Jooma pointed 
out that revised regulations are needed to guarantee safety and 
quality standards, as well as intellectual property protections, for 
Pakistan's pharmaceutical and vaccine industries so they can 
compete, not only domestically, but also in world markets. 
 
¶5. (U) Secretary Leavitt observed that the U.S. vaccine industry was 
declining a few years ago, and the U.S. Government had serious 
concerns at the time that the industry could not produce enough to 
meet the potential domestic need during an influenza pandemic.  The 
Secretary pointed out, however, that U.S. industry recovered because 
of a series of innovations and legal protections that stimulated new 
production.  He said HHS could provide technical and scientific 
assistance to the Pakistani Ministry of Health as it drafts basic 
statutes on drug safety to make them compatible with international 
norms, and in the formulation of intellectual-property laws that 
could add to the viability of investment in the vaccine and 
pharmaceutical industries in Pakistan. Secretary Leavitt also 
reiterated his offer to Minister Sherry Rehman to provide licensing 
rights for a vaccine against Hepatitis E. 
 
¶6. (U) With regard to producing vaccines, Dr. Lal noted that India 
now makes 80 per cent of the world's supply of measles vaccine and 
that India's hepatitis vaccine is now "cheaper than bottled water" 
because of India's very low labor costs and large production 
volumes.  Secretary Leavitt noted that many Indian companies now use 
publicly available U.S. technologies, and that many vaccine 
production opportunities exist now in the public domain, provided 
the industry can maintain production standards and safety 
guarantees. 
 
Highly pathogenic Avian influenza (AI) 
 
¶7. (U) Dr. Jawad shifted the discussion to Avian Influenza and noted 
that the lab-based AI surveillance system marked the first-ever 
HHS/CDC program in Pakistan.  He said the program had established 
two important linkages:  first, operational research through five 
sentinel sites, in Islamabad and in each of Pakistan's four 
 
ISLAMABAD 00002971  002 OF 002 
 
 
provinces; and second, developing an effective interaction between 
Pakistan's Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Food and 
Agricultural. 
 
¶8. (U) This cable has been cleared by Secretary Leavitt's staff. 
 
 
 
PATTERSON