By Jalil Hamid

KUALA LUMPUR, June 14 (Reuters) - Muslim states should quickly tackle their deplorable public health services with millions of infants and children vulnerable to diseases such as polio and malaria, Malaysia's prime minister said on Thursday.

Speaking at an inaugural meeting of health ministers from the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said seven of the 10 nations with the highest rate of infant mortality in the world were Muslim states.

"The state of public health in Muslim countries is already a tragedy," the OIC chairman said in a speech. "It is a tragedy because there is so much we can do to prevent needless death and suffering."

The two-day meeting is set to map out a common plan to face a possible influenza pandemic, fight polio and malaria and joint production of vaccines.

Three leading OIC states -- Indonesia, Egypt and Turkey -- have been badly affected by bird flu.

There have been 190 deaths globally from the H5N1 bird flu virus since late 2003 and 312 known infections in total, World Health Organisation data show.

Indonesia has recorded 79 human deaths from bird flu, the world's highest, Egypt 15 and Turkey four.

OIC nations -- ranging from wealthy oil-rich Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to Somalia and Afghanistan -- have 1.3 billion people.

Abdullah, who has chaired the OIC since 2003, said although diseases such as polio had long been wiped out in Western countries, they continued to threaten Muslim nations.

He said the problem was caused by lack of funding, lack of vaccine production among OIC member states and concerns over the acceptability and quality of vaccines.

"We have much to do as many of the world's Muslims live in conditions that expose them to the most virulent, yet most preventable, infections."

OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu told the meeting that richer member states such as Malaysia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates have pledged $9 million to help fight polio and malaria in Sudan, Senegal and Yemen.

He said Pakistan and Iran had also made progress in advanced research into drugs and vaccines. A donors' conference convened this week by the OlC in Doha, Qatar, pledged more than $360 million to Niger to help fight malnutrition.

AlertNet news is provided by