Swine flu could cripple poor countries’ health services: UN
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June 15, 2009 by fluoutbreak
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — World Health Organization (WHO) chief Margaret Chan warned Monday that the current swine flu pandemic could cripple fragile health services in poor countries.
“Developing countries have the greatest vulnerability and the least resilience. They will be hit the hardest and take the longest to recover,” she told a UN forum on global health.
Last week, WHO raised its global alert to a maximum six, saying swine flu had reached pandemic status because of its geographical spread.
The virus, which was first detected in Mexico in April, has so far infected almost 30,000 people in 74 countries, according to the latest WHO figures. Around 150 of those have died.
“The pressures of a pandemic, on top of the rise in chronic diseases, could alone cripple fragile health services” in the developing world, Chan said.
While noting that the world’s preparedness for the pandemic was unprecedented, she stressed that “the level of preparedness, and the capacity to cope, are strongly biased toward wealthy countries.”
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