Brian Chituwo told the Africa regional meeting of the UN World Health Organisation (WHO) in Johannesburg that SARS had served as a wake-up call for Africa.

"This (SARS) was a wake-up call in bringing to the fore the inadequacies of our health systems," he said.

"How I wish the world would respond to HIV/AIDS in a similar manner."

Chituwo said in a radio interview that SARS was not only a public health issue, but also an economic issue.

"It is obvious that there has to be a direct economic benefit for the world to respond in the manner it has," he said.

"We would like to urge them that such problems are all over the world and although our economies are weak, human lives are human lives."

Edugie Abebe, the director of public health in Nigeria, told the conference that the continent was very lucky to have been spared the effects of SARS.

"Otherwise most of us in the room ... would have been in quarantine," she said in comments quoted by the SAPA news agency.

"This is just a teaser of what might come in future. We have a looming epidemic of influenza that might come up any time."

The rapid spread of the pneumonia-like virus ravaged Asian countries as well as the Canadian city of Toronto earlier this year, killing hundreds of people and inflicting significant damage on key sectors of the world economy, notably travel and tourism.

According to WHO, Africa reported only three suspected cases of SARS -- in Nigeria, South Africa and Zambia.

TERRA.WIRE