On 3/8/2010 9:24:32 AM Colonel James Welton, U.S. Africa Command wrote:
Ian Clarke, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), talks to participants of a Pandemic Influenza Workshop held February 24-26, 2010, in Honolulu
U.S. Pacific Command, U.S. Africa Command, and the Center of Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (COE-DMHA) partnered with U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the World Food Program (WFP) to host a Pandemic Influenza Workshop, from 24-26 February in Honolulu, Hawaii.
The workshop included civilian and military participants from 10 Asian and 7 African countries, and the United States and Australia, to collaborate on identifying generic civil-military tasks in response to a pandemic and to produce a generic civil-military coordination planning annex for civilian agencies and military planners to use as a reference in developing their own pandemic and disaster response plans.
Each country brought unique insights from varying government structures and ministerial organizations. The workshop organized into six functional groups to review and produce a task list for a plans annex on how a nation’s military could support civilian agencies in the areas of medical support; transportation and logistics; humanitarian assistance; critical infrastructure support; community interface to include special needs populations, agriculture, food security, and mortuary affairs; and stability and security operations.
The goal of civil-military coordination is to create a unified agreed upon framework for planning, implementing, and evaluating response efforts to a pandemic, or other large scale disasters. Civil-military planning and exercising at the national, province, and district levels will enable all parties to walk through their respective roles and functional responsibilities in accordance with national-level disaster response plans.
The African countries that participated in the workshop were Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. The Asian countries at the workshop included Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. U.S. Africa Command participants were Col Welton, Deputy Director for Programs; Mr. Eric Threet, Pandemic Response Program Manager; Maj Palmer, Operations and Logistics, Medical Division; Maj Gotlewski, Humanitarian and Health Activities Branch; SGM Bispo, Senior Enlisted Leader for Strategy, Plans, and Programs; SFC Fuentes, Outreach Directorate; U.S. Africa Command Liaison to US Agency for International Development, LTC Nancy Jean-Louis; US Africa Command Washington Liaison Office, Ms. Cheryl Barnett; and Maj Rob Holmes, USAF Infectious Disease Specialist, Keesler AFB, MS.
Ten Asian and 7 African countries, the United States and Australia gather in Honolulu February 24-26, 2010, for a Pandemic Influenza Workshop
U.S. Africa Command Blog 
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