World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Margaret Chan
urged governments on Tuesday to share their responsibility in
dealing with the threat of a flu pandemic.
"A pandemic will, by its very nature, reach every corner of the
earth, and it will do so within a matter of months," Chan told a
WHO intergovernmental meeting on pandemic influenza
preparedness.
"This shared vulnerability calls for shared responsibility, and
collective action to fulfill that responsibility. In terms of the
risk of disease, we really are all in the same boat," she said.
According to Chan, world preparedness for a possible pandemic
has moved forward on multiple fronts, including the capacity to
manufacture influenza vaccines, but more needs to be done.
"Countries need to brace themselves for a situation where up to
25 percent of the workforce may be ill at a given time. They have
to brace themselves for a possible meltdown of basic municipal
services and a slowdown of economic activity," she said.
"And this situation will be occurring globally. As I said, the
stakes are high and the responsibility resting on our shoulders is
great," she added.
The WHO chief stressed that she fully support any effort that
leads to greater and more equitable access to pandemic
vaccines.
"In terms of preparedness, access to vaccines is almost
certainly the greatest concern in countries that lack their own
manufacturing capacity," she said.
Chan also highlighted the importance of virus-sharing, which
"serves public health in ways that go beyond the development of
pandemic vaccines."
"Above all, the sharing of viruses is the foundation of risk
assessment. The analysis and comparison of viruses give us the
first clues, the first early warning, that the virus may be
evolving in a dangerous way," she said.
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(Xinhua News Agency November 21, 2007)