Disease control

I am still trying to figure out where to set my Zombie campaign - I am still undecided if it will be the U.S., the U.K. or even Australia.

As I also want to include some military figures in the game I am spoiled for a bit of choice - TAG, Eureka, MOFO (Gripping beast) and others all make figures for the three nations I am contemplating.

I like the look of the TAG British:

and they have some SAS with silenced weapons that fit the bill nicely:

MOFO make some great 1990s Delta Force which I am happy to use for a more up to date setting:

Eureka have the Modern Germans as seen in previous posts for my blog, and they have Bio suited Russians and Americans which are very tempting, as are the Modern FFL and USMC Recon troops. I have a section or so of their Australian troops already, but I suck at painting cammo, and the auscam is hard for me to paint.

 So - spoiled for choice, I can't make up my mind. Maybe I could have a setting where troops from around the world have gathered to help put down the zombie uprising? A kind of military force that is part of a world organisation.

 To help me in the process for making a decision I have been looking up health organisations, such as the CDC, that I can include in the game for background information, news reports and even as part of the cure.

 I found it interesting the Australia doesn't have an equivalent for disease control: the U.S. has CDC, the U.K. has HPA... yet Australia is only now starting to think that "we need a disease control organisation'. I sure hope the zombie plague doesn't come down under, as it would spread far and wide in next to no time.

Part of an ABC news item taken from 11 APRIL 2011:

Australia 'needs centre for disease control'

By Clarissa Thorpe

Updated Mon Apr 11, 2011 4:59pm AEST

Australian National University Professor Bob Douglas has told a health conference in Canberra, monitoring of disease outbreaks is vital as global travel becomes easier.

A leading health academic is lobbying for Australia to establish its own centre for disease control based on the United States model.

In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention play a major role in monitoring and providing advice on diseases.

Professor Douglas says experts predict there will be more exotic diseases spreading in the future and establishing an Australian centre for disease control is important.

"Yes, I think Australia does need one," Professor Douglas said.

"I think we've had elements of one in the last 20 years, and I think we have got elements coming up on chronic disease in the future. But we have a fragmented process at the moment and we are at danger. "

Professor Douglas says the ANU's Master of Applied Epidemiology Program, which supported a disease surveillance network, is being phased out.

"Every country needs a focus for controlling disease. What I'm deeply concerned about is that we are dis-establishing a program that was essentially the equivalent of the American Epidemic Intelligence Service and we don't have a replacement in sight for it in Australia."

So, I guess Australia is off the list for places for my setting... or is it? I could always use the W.H.O. for media reports, or I could create my own centre.. such as  the Ministry for Infectious Life Forms, or M.I.L.F. for short.

 I will have to contemplate it for a while, and until them focus on designing my scenery and collecting my survivors and zombies.