Cancun, Mexico  - The World Health Organization (WHO) and ministers and experts from 50 countries are to meet Wednesday in the Mexican resort city of Cancun to discuss the lessons learnt from the swine flu pandemic, which has sickened more than 50,000 people worldwide.

The challenge before them will be not just to draw conclusions from the spread of the new A(H1N1) virus, but also to discuss key issues for the future, including the development and distribution of a vaccine.

WHO on Monday reported 7,873 new cases of swine flu around the world, including 51 deaths. The large jump since the last update was largely a result of new cases in the Americas, particularly the United States.

In total, WHO reported 52,160 laboratory confirmed cases of A(H1N1), as the virus is technically known, including 231 deaths. Near all the fatal cases were reported in North America.

Wednesday's high-level meeting was set to bring together about 80 specialists, including the health ministers of 13 countries and WHO Director-General Margaret Chan.

"We are at a crucial moment in the fight against human influenza, which is why governments and the international health community have to make key decisions on the design, manufacture, distribution and strategic reserves of the vaccine," said Mexican Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova Villalobos.

The choice of Cancun to host the gathering wasn't random. Mexico's world-renowned tourist resorts were left almost empty as fear spread along with the virus, and they are yet to recover.

According to Mexico's health authorities, the aim of the conference is not only to discuss lessons learned during this most recent global health crisis, but also to show the world that Mexico is once again a safe destination for visitors.

With winter in full flow in the southern hemisphere and still several months away in the north, the rush for vaccines and drugs will be central topics of discussion in Cancun. There will also be talks on preventive medical intervention in schools, places of work and airports, as well as debates on global health regulations.

The meeting was being organized by Mexico, which was at the heart of the outbreak in April, the United States and Canada, with the support of WHO and the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO).

The meeting was to officially start Thursday, with an opening ceremony led by Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

Several key figures in the detection of the new virus will be at Cancun, among them Frank Plummer, the scientific director-general of Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory, who informed Mexico on April 23 about an unusual agent that had been found in a series of tissue samples that Mexican authorities had sent to Canada for testing.

That was the start of a global alert on a disease that became a pandemic within two months, and that had its epicentre in Mexico.

The health ministers of Mexico, the United States, Canada, China, India, Japan, Spain, Britain, Sweden, Costa Rica, Chile, Nigeria and Egypt were expected in Cancun, along with representatives of seven international organizations.

PAHO chief Mirta Roses, the head of the influenza division of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Nancy Cox, and WHO assistant director-general for health security and environment, Keiji Fukuda, were also to attend. (dpa)