According to Reuters, around 30 independent health specialists are assembling in Geneva for the next three days to evaluate how the World Health Organization has managed the H1N1 swine flu epidemic that proved meeker than dreaded.

Keiji Fukuda, an influenza specialist at the WHO, says that the agency might have caused public uncertainty over the flu's danger that critics assert led to a squandering of stocked unused vaccinations.

Fukuda said, "The reality is there is a big amount of ambiguity (in a pandemic). I think we did not convey the uncertainty. That was interpreted by many as a non-transparent process".

He added that it was hard to meet intense demands for news and advice as the virus swelled and world influenza specialists worked to comprehend what they were dealing with.

Fukuda said that populations across the globe have very high hopes for immediate information.

Fukuda made these comments as he addressed a three-day meeting of 29 external flu specialists called to assess WHO's managing of the first influenza endemic in 40 years.

The committee that is likely to finish its work over the span of the next 13 months, is being asked to discover what went right and what went wrong in its answer to the epidemic, so Public Health Officials, at the WHO and elsewhere, can apply the findings to future endemic preparation.

WHO Director-General, Margaret Chan said that her agency greeted a forthright, critical review of its managing of its performance.