UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Margaret Chan met with over 30 vaccine manufacturers on Tuesday, urging them to help ensure equal access to any eventual H1N1 vaccine.
During the meeting, which was held at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, both Ban and Chan stressed the importance of assuring that any eventual vaccine for A/H1N1 influenza was made available in a spirit of equity and fairness, the WHO said in a statement.
Industry representatives attending the meeting affirmed their wish to cooperate in making supplies available to developing countries, and said they stood ready to produce the vaccine when requested, the statement said.
"We have a very serious commitment from companies in the North and in the South to work with WHO," the WHO chief told a press conference later in the day.
She said the UN secretary-general's ability to mobilize resources "is extremely vital when the world is under threat of an imminent pandemic."
Although the WHO is not a funding agency, Chan said she took it as part of her job to advocate for the poor.
"In the name of solidarity, I have reached out to drug and vaccine manufacturers," she said. "We will look at different mechanisms to make sure poor communities and countries are not left out."
She said she had spoken with the World Bank and foundations to continue to work on funding. She added that she would meet with vaccine manufacturers individually to work out strategies to ensure pandemic vaccine availability.
(Xinhua News Agency May 20, 2009)
