“A PRO-ACTIVE APPROACH TO PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUES” - JEANNIOT

“The wide range of topics discussed at this Conference are in fact public health issues,” said IATA Director General Pierre J. Jeanniot. “For air transport, as with other industries and activities, precise answers may not be always available. What is important is that the industry, led by the airlines, is taking a pro-active stance, involving themselves, their passengers, the medical profession and international institutes such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) in both common sense measures and further, more meaningful, research.”

Jeanniot was referring to the two days of debate at IATA’s “Cabin Health 2001” Conference, 17/18 May in Geneva. The Conference was attended by more than 100 airline medical and other specialists, medical suppliers and lawyers. The agenda covered global International Health Regulations, cosmic radiation, cabin air quality, deep vein thrombosis (DVT), prevention measures, regulatory initiatives and corporate responsibility.

Against a background of recent high-profile media coverage, a particularly intense debate took place on DVT.

The shared view of the medical community and the airlines is that there is at present no firm evidence that flying is a specific risk in itself.

There is a shared view amongst the medical community and the air transport industry that it is known pre-existing conditions or factors and immobility, rather than the cabin environment itself, which are the key elements in developing DVT.

“It is at this point that common sense and cooperation come into play,” continued Jeanniot. “Airlines will continue to encourage common sense, simple, measures on the part of passengers, many of them involving gentle exercises, which can guard against DVT and make the journey a better experience. At the same time, and in the best public health tradition, it is essential that airlines and the world medical community cooperate to obtain the best information possible on any links, however tenuous they may be, between flying and the condition.”

IATA is to take a lead role in airline collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO) on long-term epidemiological studies of DVT and flying.