World Health Assembly Opens Amid Concerns About Flu Pandemic

The 62nd World Health Assembly opened today in Geneva, as officials from 193 member countries began their annual review of the activities of the WHO and set new priorities for the future.

In her address to the Health Assembly, WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan noted that the world was facing multiple crises, including the current financial crisis and global economic downturn. In addition to this, it also faced the prospect of the first influenza pandemic of this century.

She said that the world today was more vulnerable to the adverse effects of an influenza pandemic than it was in 1968, when the last pandemic began. The increase in air travel meant that any city with an international airport was at risk of an imported case. Global economic interdependence amplified the potential for economic disruption.

Under these circumstances, it was vital to see that no part of the world suffered disproportionately. "We have to care about equity. We have to care about fair play," she said.

Dr Chan noted that 85% of the burden of chronic diseases was concentrated in low-income and middle-income countries, which meant that the developing world had by far the largest pool of people at risk for severe and fatal H1N1 infections.

She urged the international community to look at everything that could be done to collectively protect developing countries from bearing the brunt of an influenza pandemic.

The Director-General said she had reached out to manufacturers of antiviral drugs and vaccines, to Member States, donor countries and UN agencies, civil society organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and foundations to stress the need to extend preparation and mitigation measures to the developing world. The United Nations Secretary-General had joined her in these efforts.

With regard to the criteria for a move to Phase 6, Dr Chan said she had listened to the comments made by Member States during a high-level consultation earlier in the day. "As the chie...

Address to Sixty-second World Health Assembly, Geneva, Switzerland

18 May 2009

Concern over flu pandemic justified

Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization

Mister President, honourable ministers, excellencies, distinguished delegates, Dr Mahler, ladies and gentlemen,

Over the past three decades, the world has, on average, been growing richer. People have, on average, been enjoying longer and healthier lives.

But these encouraging trends hide a brutal reality. Today, differences in income levels, in opportunities, and in health status, within and between countries, are greater than at any time in recent history.

Our world is dangerously out of balance, and most especially so in matters of health. The current economic downturn will diminish wealth and health, but the impact will be greatest in the developing world.

Human society has always been characterized by inequities. History has long had its robber-barons and its Robin Hoods. The difference today is that these inequities, especially in access to health care, have become so deadly.

The world can be grateful that leaders from 189 countries endorsed the Millennium Declaration and its Goals as a shared responsibility. These Goals are a profoundly important way to introduce greater fairness in this world.

Populations all around the world can be grateful that health officials are recommitting themselves to primary health care. This is the surest route to greater equity in access to health care.

Public health can be grateful for backing from the Commission on Social Determinants of Health. I agree entirely with the findings. The great gaps in health outcomes are not random. Much of the blame for the essentially unfair way our world works rests at the policy level.

Time and time again, health is a peripheral issue when the policies that shape this world are set. When health policies clash with prospects for economic gain, economic interests trump health c...