A Red Cross official has sharply criticised "complacency" towards the impact of communicable diseases on poor countries, contrasting it with responses to flu or heart disease in rich nations.

A report released by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies yesterday warned that the crippling and growing burden of epidemics like dengue fever, polio, or meningitis was not being sufficiently addressed.

"We do not see interest, we only see vague, uncoordinated interest in high-profile issues such as influenza - which is in itself a great risk, but not the only one," said Tammam Aloudat, the federation's senior officer for health in emergencies. Swine flu has "killed so far about 150 people, the potential for risk is massive, but what we have today is 14 million people dying mostly unnecessarily from easily preventable diseases that require little resources," he told journalists.

Titled The Epidemic Divide, the Red Cross report said a focus on death rates had helped increase attention and resources to tackle non-communicable diseases such as heart attacks and cancers, now the leading killers worldwide.