UN Secretary General on A(H1N1) situation
UN: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon talked today about
referred to the present situation of the virus A(H1N1) and the measures
to be taken to stop its dissemination.
In his monthly meeting with the accredited press to the UN, Ban Ki-Moon
received an unusual claim from journalists.
They asked, in the person of the Press Correspondent Association
president Giampiaolo Piolo, Ban’s cooperation to stop actions linked
with his work during and after the repair of the UN emblematic building.
In particular, correspondents oppose a decision to locate them in
common areas during the UN remodeling and to begin charging for their
office space in over 60 years of existence of this organization.
When referring to the flu pandemic issue that the world is going
through and the raising of the alert to maximum level by the World
Health Organization, the official said this should not be cause for
alarm, “although we should stay alert.”
He explained that, although infectious, this new virus has not been
as severe as expected and the death rate has been low.
Nevertheless, the Secretary General asked to be alert because “we
donA’t know what will happen in the coming months.” He pointed out this
epidemic has particularly hit developed countries, but this should
rapidly change. Poor countries have less advanced health systems, he
said. To face the illness, Ban asked for global solidarity because the
virus does not respect frontiers and the most effective way is to combat
it wherever it emerges.
He recommended the access to vaccines and antiviral medicines
together with antibiotics, to share information and samples of the
virus, to prevent drastic and discriminatory actions like banning travel
and make an international coordination in several fronts.
He announced that next Monday he will summon a meeting in the venue
of the Influenza Executive Committee to design the next steps, which
will be held before the opening session of the Forum on the Advance of
global health facing the crisis. United Nations, Prensa Latina |
